The Legacy of Zero
by Scorch362
Summary: Divine. Beautiful. Powerful. That's how Louise the Zero described her ideal familiar. Well, she managed two of those. At times he could display etiquette and grace like the best of nobility, but at others, he was little more than a savage animal. Though he looked human, she realized she'd summoned a demon. She'd summoned a Vampire. Rated M for raunchy and/or violent scenes.
1. At Her Throat

**For the time being, this is only serving as a starter. The teaser to a longer project that I'll eventually get to. (First things first, right?)**

**I'll be crossing over Familiar of Zero with one of my original works, though really, only in the character department. This original work in question has been inspired by various other works. I do not own Familiar of Zero, however I do claim all Original Characters and Concepts.**

**06/06/2019 Update: Story rating changed to M due to the likelihood of raunchy scenes and gratuitous violence**

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Louise twiddled with her wand, sitting under the shade of a nearby tree as she watched the other second year students lining up to begin their summoning rituals. She buried her face into her knees. _"I'll summon a familiar that's divine and beautiful and powerful and then we'll see who's laughing!" _she clenched at her shins, digging her nails into them. She really wished she hadn't said that. When her turn came, she'd be called up to the front, told to summon her familiar and then… _boom_! That's how it always went. She shook her head, that was no way to think. Focus. What would she try for? She slid her hands up from her shins to the back of her head as she sat there, starting to an her fingers through her hair in an effort to calm her shot nerves. A dragon perhaps? No… that was setting the bar a little high. Maybe a Unicorn? No, that would just probably end up with her being teased even more than she already was, that was the last thing she wanted. Ooh, a Gryphon would be awesome, she could hop onboard and go wherever she wanted. But if she was going for a gryphon… eh, why not try for a dragon? They'd serve a similar purpose, just one would be leagues cooler than the other. After all, give it your all or don't bother, right?

"Ms. Valliere!" Mr. Colbert called out, causing Louise to flinch, her head snapping bolt upright from her knees, gaze straight down towards the gathering of other students. She cringed as she rose, digging her wand out from her sleeve and began her slow but intent driven approach towards the group. Even as she approached, she could see the others start to make room - she knew exactly why. The terror held within their nervous and shaken groans and whines was not lost on her. Alright… all she had to do was focus. Let's go for that dragon.

She reached through the ethereal plane, searching for her destined familiar. Whatever she pulled out was to be bound to her for life. She let the magical energies swirl up around the tip of her wand as she held it close, chanting the summoning spell. Yes, she was sure she had it now. She whipped her wand forward, the small green ball that was to open the portal summoning her familiar, shot forward and impacted the ground a fair distance away from her - was it too far, she wondered.

Probably. That or it was just business as usual. That was the only way to explain the resulting explosion that rippled out from the energy ball's point of impact. A cloud of dust, dirt and smoke billowed out across the field and knocked all those that stood nearby to the ground, Louise included. She threw back her cape, which had found itself draped over her head after she'd been knocked silly. "AAWWWW COME ON!" she bellowed, driving her fists into the dirt. A faint light shined next to her, orange in color. She looked to her right only to see Mr. Colbert lower a plain, basic defensive ward that he'd been taking shelter behind. She could hear the disappointed sigh that escaped his lips. She prepared for another round of belittlement from her peers… then she heard something from within the smoking crater she'd formed.

Mr. Colbert seemed to hear it as well, shifting his staff from one hand to another. Louise rose to her feet, inching forward next to Mr. Colbert. She took a nervous peek into the smoke, had she done it despite the mess? Well, sort of. When the smoke cleared enough for her to see, she found herself horribly confused. Confused and just a little peeved. Laying in the crater was a boy, maybe only a year or two older than her. A plain black shirt with short sleeves covered his torso and blue trousers of a curious rough looking material lined his legs. He wore black shoes, looked like they were made of some combination of cloth and leather, with laces atop them. This basic appearance didn't much fit his face, as Louise sank into the crater to examine her apparent summon. He didn't look much like a peasant with immaculate long, almost shoulder length black hair, flawless creamy skin without so much as a blemish. His eyes were shut as he appeared to be slipping into unconsciousness.

"Oh would you look at that, Louise the Zero summoned up a regular commoner." snidely remarked Kirche, the student body having closed back in now that the danger had passed.

Louise tensed up, her temper flaring as she spun around. "Shut it Zerbst!" jabbing a finger at the voluptuous redhead. Many of the other students were exchanging snickers and laughs at Louise's expense. "Mr. Colbert!" Louise started, frantically looked to him "This has to be some kind of mistake! Can you let me try again? Please?" she begged. This embarrassment would go down in history and mark her as one of the biggest flops in all history.

Unfortunately for her, Mr. Colbert shook his head. "I'm sorry Ms. Valliere, but the familiar summoning ritual is sacred, repeating it would be sacrilegious at best." he replied, motioning towards the new boy and Louise with his staff. "Like it or not, this boy is to become your familiar."

Louise glowered quietly to herself, turning back to look down at the unconscious boy. She knelt down in front of his face. The shadow she cast seemed to rouse the boy slightly as he shifted his head, groaning in what sounded like pain. His eyes opened, a piercing blue regarding her weakly. "What?" he started, sounding as if in a daze. His accent was unlike any that she'd heard in Tristain, but the language was familiar, it sounded like Albion. While Louise wasn't the best mage, she was fluent in most of the languages spoken through Halkegenia.

"Consider yourself lucky." she eyed him over one more time, from head to feet. His appearance still terribly confused her. His form was for lack of a better term, immaculate, but his clothing screamed common rabble. "I wouldn't normally do this to anyone." she finished, putting her hand behind his head and lifting him up for her to plant her lips on his. The boy tensed up and flailed away from her, though he didn't make it far, trying desperately to sink further into the crater he lay in before giving up and trying to shield his eyes with his arm. This too wasn't to last as only moments later, a bolt of light shot from the sky and struck his hand, causing the boy to scream in pain, a short, quick yelp. He grasped his hand which upon the back of, a rune began to etch itself. The bolt of light that surged through him caused his entire form to simmer and smoke. The pain seemed to be to much for him to handle as he desperately grasped at Louise's leg. "Get… me… out of… here." he wheezed, the pain in his voice, the desperation, like a creature pleading during its last waning minutes of life.

Even if he was just a commoner, Louise couldn't just let him die, especially since he was now her familiar. To summon a familiar, only to have it die moments later would be a new one for sure, one that she'd never live down. "Mr. Colbert, may I be excused? I think my _familiar _needs to recover or… something." she wasn't an expert on biology, she didn't know what was wrong with him - all she knew was that he was unconscious, smoking and likely in serious pain.

"Very well Ms. Valliere, as long as you make it to your other classes." Mr. Colbert replied, giving her leave.

"What's wrong Louise? Familiar troubles?" Kirche teased as Louise knelt down and begun dragging her new familiar out of the crater and towards the school gate. Louise was about to give Kirche even more lip right back when she saw the Salamander that she'd summoned. Louise grudgingly bit her tongue, she had more important things to deal with right now - like making sure her familiar didn't die! So the only thing she quipped back was the same old; "Shut it Zerbst!" before passing through the school gate.

As she dragged the boy across the open field, she started to smell the burning scent from earlier, it was really noticeable by now. The smell of burnt flesh premated her nostrils, almost causing her to gag. When she looked back at him, she saw the smoke was still seeping off him and he'd gained a slightly darker hue. She groaned quietly to herself as she kicked open the door to the tower she resided in.

Now, getting to the dormitory tower was the easy part, Louise had no idea how she'd get this guy up the stairs. She hoisted him up onto her chest, standing behind him and dragged him, both arms looped under his shoulders, up the stairs, his feet clunking against the steps as she pulled. _Brimir_, this had to be more trouble than it was worth. But on one hand, she _had _actually managed to summon _something_, which was probably more than expected as a whole. Thankfully by now the smoke had dissipated through the boy's skin remained the darker hue it had been, appearing as if he'd been slightly charred. A few stories up, she kicked the door to her room open and dragged him up onto her bed, depositing him there before sliding off the opposite side. Louise wandered over to the window and sighed to herself. What a way to start off the year. She then heard the boy groan and she looked over her shoulder to see him holding one of her pillows in front of him as he turned to face her, shielding his face from the sunlight streaming in through her window. She groaned and shut her windows, pulling the curtains shut, which drastically reduced the amount of light shining into her room. "Happy?" she demanded to know, turning around to face him, fists planted at her hips.

With another groan the boy rolled off the side of her bed, discarding the pillow and landing on the floor with a loud _thump_. Louise wandered around the foot of her bed and looked down on him. He seemed to have knocked himself out, as he was again out cold. Louise scoffed, "Fine, enjoy it down there. I have classes to get to. Kindly do not die before I get back." she remarked before making for her door. She shifted her gaze over her shoulder one last time before looking pitiful down at the boy at the base of her bed. She shook her head and left, shutting the door behind her. Assuming he was recovered by the time she got back, she had a plethora of tasks for him to show his gratitude.

Louise sprinted down the stairs, narrowly avoiding tripping a few times. The rest of the day went by without further anomalies - at least by her standard. A few explosions here, a few explosions there, yup, nothing out of the ordinary to her.

The sun was starting to go down by the time classes were dismissed for the day. With twilight almost upon them, Louise had little desire for anything more strenuous than sleep. She also figured it would be a good idea to check on her familiar, make sure he wasn't dead or anything. And if he was dead, to get rid of the corpse before it stunk up her room. She'd come up with the perfect array of assignments she'd give him if he pulled through. She quickly ascended the stairs, no strange smells coming from her room, that was a good sign.

Without even pausing at her door, she cast it aside and began to enter, rattling off her list as she shut the door behind her. At least, she would have, had she not found her familiar missing. She tensed up taking a hesitant step forward, "Hello?" she muttered, peeking around the corner, seeing him slumped up against the wall behind her table and next to her vanity. She narrowed her eyes. The darkness of her room and the dark clothing he wore made it difficult to see anything above his legs. "Are you still alive?"

There was no verbal response from him, just a breathy sigh from him before he started to rise. Louise groaned and turned around to prepare to get ready for bed, stripping her school uniform down to her lingerie. "Good. I've several chores for you. I want my clothes washed and prepared for me by morning. Do this and I'll see fit to feed you." initially there was no response from her familiar, though she heard him rise to his feet, taking a single step forward. Then he spoke.

"Pitiful, for you to assume I'm some kind of servant. Bold of you, to think I need someone else's permission to feed." he said, venom lacing his words. Louise tensed up, clenching her fists, even in her nightgown, she would not be shown such disrespect she began to reach for her wand. "Combined… one might assume you have a death wish." he finished, just as her hand reached her wand. She turned around ready to punish him and put him in his place but she was far too slow.

The speed at which he crossed the room hardly gave Louise time to realize just what kind of nightmare she'd summoned. Lustrous silver hair, pale ashen skin and blood red eyes were the first hints that she'd summoned a monster, the proof however came right from her familiar's mouth; a set of pearly white, razor sharp canines bore down on her as she was slammed into the wall between her dresser and bed with a light thud. His fangs were at her neck in a second - she felt his jaw tighten around her neck and the pulse of her own heartbeat as he raised her up, almost an entire foot, to get a better grasp on her. She tried to scream, wanted too, but only a pathetic whimper escaped her lips. The various conflicting impulses that ran through her were enough to cause her to go into shock as she felt him sucking her life essence from her neck. Terror, serenity and a knee quivering pleasure racked her mind. She wanted to escape, yet being in his embrace just felt so peaceful while the feeling of his kiss made her want to drop to her knees in pleasure. She wanted it to end - but didn't… she was sure the only way out of this was death. She found herself grasping at his shoulders, her breathing became labored as she pressed a knee into his waist - she found herself giving into the embrace even though every sane part of her mind screamed at her not to. But if she was going to die this way, she might not mind… a slight moan escaped her lips. Upon the sound escaping her however, the sensation at her neck stopped. She felt his fangs pull free from her neck as he ran his tongue over the bite marks he'd left. The monster recoiled, letting Louise fall to the floor, her knees still quivering as she gasped and reached for her neck. Her hand came back slightly red, but otherwise the damage wasn't as bad as it seemed for she couldn't find any bite marks. While being free was a relief, there was some part of her that wished it never ended. She shook her head, a sudden dizziness overtaking her as she wobbled left, forcing her to grasp her bed for support. What the hell was she thinking? She forced herself to look up towards the creature she'd summoned - at his defining, inhuman features. A tickle of blood trailed down the corner of his mouth… he timidly reached up and wiped it away with his bare wrist, then held his hands up, palms open towards her.

"I… I'm sorry." he said, his voice choked. "I didn't… I didn't mean to- the monster, it just..." but there were no words he could have said that excused him for what he did. His entire visage appeared shaken with himself, a look of horror plastered upon his own face - an appearance that seemed a mockery of her, given what he was. He lowered his hands, holding his palms to the ceiling, turning his soul piercing red gaze down towards them. His hands trembled just like her legs were, though unlike her, who had damn near given into what she'd felt, she could see him fighting it with every ounce of willpower he had. But he himself even seemed to come to terms with this as he took a step towards her window, still closed. He cast the curtains aside and unlatched the window. "I don't want to hurt you- just…" he paused a moment, before swinging the window open. Again, it mattered not what he said and he knew it. But it didn't stop him from trying. "I'll leave well enough alone."

"W-wait!" Louise started, despite her near death experience, she had so many questions. The arrogant noble in her demanded an apology, but that slight voice in the back of her head, the reasonable and very much terrified little girl in her just wanted to hide. Once the windows were open however, the boy took a few steps back and Louise realized what he was about to do. She repeated herself; "Wait!" but he wasn't listening as he took two quick running steps towards the window before suddenly he wasn't there any more. For a second it was a whiff of dark mist before in his place and out the window flew a little bat, taking to the night sky. With him gone, Louise was finally able to come to her senses. She stood, wobbling towards the window, slamming them shut. She stumbled back onto her bed, laying down spread eagle across it.

The familiar she'd so desired; that angelic, beautiful, majestic creature she'd coveted… it had been anything but - and now it may have just tried to kill her and then run away. No, she'd summoned something else entirely; something demonic, something that deep down, though it acted human was anything but. A monster. She'd summoned a Vampire.

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**Inspired by Rosario + Vampire, Castlevania, Sereph of the End and Vampire: The Masquerade**

**First chapter may seem all edge, but the intended themes for the story will be; Supernatural Romantic Drama + A healthy dose of dark humor.**

**More to come in the future...**


	2. Tristania by Night

**Here, I'll give you guys a second chapter real quick so that you can get a feel for Louise's familiar.**

**(I say "Real quick" but then end up writing probably one of the most paragraph heavy chapters I've ever put to Fanfiction… what can I say? This boy is my favorite little edge master)**

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He was disgusted with himself, how could he have let the monster get the better of him. This wasn't punishment enough, but he didn't feel particularly like rewarding himself either.

The cry of a dying doe echoed through the woods as Alphonse Palidscu, sank his fangs into his next meal. Better known to his dimension as Alaric the Third, but more infamously and more commonly known as Alucard Tepes. He personally favored the mid.

Alaric finally released the doe as it fell slack, dropping the heavy corpse to the ground and wiping his mouth clean of blood. He felt like gagging. In fact, the moment the doe hit the ground he started dry heaving. That thing was nasty. But the amount he'd gotten from that girl, the one that claimed to have summoned him just hadn't been enough to fully sate him. He hated himself for letting the monster get the better of him there. It wasn't the first time it had done so, but it was the first time in months that it hadn't been directed - lashing out like that out of pure hunger. But what could he have done? He'd found himself pulled from his own realm by an amateur wizard and left in the sun for a few minutes while said wizard argued about… _something_. Fucking semantics or some shit! He felt his temper flare, the monster still slithering about in there somewhere. "Reel it in there asshole…" he muttered. As if his current situation wasn't bad enough, he'd been pulled over without the chance to grab his charm. As experienced upon first arrival, daywalking was out of the picture unless he could find adequate protection. Exposed to direct sunlight, it would be a minute till he regressed into partial torpor, five before he was dust, which for a vampire of his generation, was pretty substantial. Younger vampires could stand the sun longer on average.

Even with his thirst sated, he still found himself grappling with mortality, that which kept him separated from the monster within. A measure of how in touch he was with his human nature in defiance of his beast. Not since awakening from his father-inflicted-torpor had he felt like this, mind you for him, that hadn't been that long ago, almost a year. But of course he had to find himself getting sucked back into another pocket realm of some sort, at least that's how he reasoned with it. That had to be the explanation. Just after he'd gotten settled in the modern world, made a few friends, started making connections and really was just getting into things… _snap_, back to basics again. No. He'd find a way back to the mortal world, he had too. He wouldn't miss out on another century, not again. Surely his friends would notice something, maybe the upper echelons of The Society would take notice that their prodigal son had gone missing. _Fuck!_

In a fit of rage he picked the deer carcass up and flung it with inhuman force into a nearby tree, the deer's spine snapping as it impacted the trunk. He then sank to his knees. What was he to do? Physically he was anything but powerless, but this hadn't been much different than when he'd first set foot outside the Transylvanian pocket realm, onto the streets of modern Bucharest. He knew nothing about this realms people, their culture, their society, nothing. As far as social and societal machinations and mechanics went, he may as well have been a newborn fledgling.

Alaric took a moment to himself, finding a less destroyed tree and sinking down the trunk to sit at its base. He pulled his knees up to his chest and planted his forehead atop them. _Damn it_. His panic and frustration was getting the best of him. So he did what his mortal friends did when they were getting worked up - he took a moment and forced himself to take deep, methodical breaths. For what little good they did him respiratorily - he had little need for oxygen - it was calming, soothing, peaceful. Taking a few quiet minutes to himself, clearing his mind, it did him a world of good. First things first, he had the entire night to himself. He needed to find out where exactly he was.

Rising from the base of the tree, he walked out towards the forest's edge. He looked towards the school from which he'd just departed, spying the very tower he'd woken in and assaulted that girl. At the top, a faint light shined from the window, flickering softly. Alaric wagered she was either in bed, leaving the light on, or gone from her room in a frenzied panic. He was sure he'd find out sooner or later - if he saw a mob forming before the dawn, he'd know he wasn't welcome there. He knew he didn't want to venture back into the academy, not tonight at least. So where else could he find the information he sought? He spied a road, leading away from the walled compound. _All roads lead to __Rome_, he thought, or in this case, some form of civilization.

Without any idea of how long it would be before he reached a settlement, Alaric stepped out of the woods, shutting his eyes for all of a second. An odd sensation passed through him, but one that he was quite familiar with at this point. First was the sensation of his physical form dissipating into shadows, a stretching, tugging feeling before being able to feel nothing at all. Then reforming back into a more, compact shape, he felt denser but it didn't affect his weight at all, rather his smaller form made him remarkably light. It was always strange trying to navigate in bat form. As he flew along the road at height, the dark landscape below appeared a muddled and fuzzy grey. His long-distance sight was horrendous, unable to make out anything other than a plethora of muddy, swirling colors - which in this lighting was just a mess of grey and black. Instead he had to rely on other senses to find his way; audio cues, smells and the likes. Using these additional senses, he managed to find his way. Color began to emerge in the distance among all the sea of swirling grey and black. Color meant light, light meant people.

As he got closer, he confirmed his suspicions. It was a city. A fairly large one at that. He could see a moat ringing the city's walls, with a few open gateways with bridges lowered. He was sure guards would be manning them and a lone boy trying to enter the city at this time of night may seem suspicious. If they asked him for papers or anything of the sort, he would be shit-outta-luck. Instead he elected to do the smart thing, flying over the walls and landing on a rooftop a few blocks from the wall. He shifted back to his human form with a puff of black mist, tucking and rolling as he landed atop the red shingled rooftops. Mental note; slow it down next time. He did a quick shoulder check to make sure no wall or rooftop guards had noticed him - there didn't seem to be any roof guards and the wall guards were much too far. Good. He crept to the edge of the roof, peering down to the street below, it seemed clear. Dropping down here would be better than the other side of the building, which faced an open plaza, a fountain in the middle and several pedestrian benches. This side street worked much better. Doing one last scan to make sure nobody was looking, he was about to jump down when he remembered; _"Right, guise." _

Shutting his eyes again he utilized a basic form of vampyric magics, a power referred simply to as _Flush_. Closing his eyes wasn't necessary persay, but whenever he needed to rouse his vampyric blood to perform his powers, his eyes would flare bright red, a dead giveaway. As he roused his blood, he felt warmth flow into his fingertips and the cool breeze that wafted against his cheek became noticeably sharper. He found himself involuntary breathing. Once he opened his eyes again he looked down to see his ashy complexion had deserted him, leaving him with clean, flawless pale skin. He tugged one of his bangs down and crossed his eyes as he made sure everything was accounted for; his silver hair had become a cool raven black and the glow from his bestial, catlike red eyes was absent, replaced with the usual welcoming regular bright blue eyes he went with when going flush with life. This would last him the night. He did one more check along the street, noticing a pair of commoner entering the main street. He waited for them to pass, only for them to start necking at the side of the alleyway. Alaric quietly groaned under his breath, rolling his eyes as he crept up the length of the structure, putting some distance between him and the couple. Once at the other end of the building, he deemed it safe to come down. He vaulted down from the two story building, bending his knees as he landed making little more than a light _clack_ as his shoes impacted the brick road. He glanced up the alleyway, checking to see if the couple had noticed him - it seemed they were a bit preoccupied. Now would be the time to act natural. Then it struck him. He looked down at his attire; _"Keeping a low profile would be easier if I looked the part" _he thought. Maybe looking for a store would be a good idea, but wait, what store would be open this time of night? He groaned, contemplating possibly breaking in and stealing something. But his mortality was firmly in check by now, no, he couldn't bring himself to do that. _"Let's just start with information, surely there's a pub or something like that around here where I can absorb gossip and ask questions._" all cities, from the Dark Age through Middle Ages to the Renaissance to the Information Age had some form of public forum where loose lips prevailed - taverns, inns, pubs, brothels, bars, internet cafes or conventions. Wait, what month had it been? Ack, damnit, Nathan and Jenny invited him to Emerald City Comic-Con and he might damn well miss it! He quietly pouted to himself as he wandered the dimly lit streets by candlelight, sinking his hands halfway into his jean pockets.

There was something about this place that actually soothed his anxiety riddled mind, something that put him at ease. It was familiar to him. To think that only a year ago he'd been ripped from the birth of the Renaissance, only to be shoved into the 21st Century in what felt like overnight, for five-hundred years, he'd slept beneath Romania. He'd missed out on… so much. All of this, this city, the realm he found himself in, looked as if it were experiencing its Renaissance in full swing. In a way, perhaps he could at least glimpse the time he'd missed. Or perhaps it was just relaxing to take a peaceful stroll through a city by night without the constant reminder that police patrolled the streets - sirens in the distance - officers ready to stop pedestrians at a moments notice to ensure that the night-owls of the city weren't anything sinister. For the world he'd just left behind was well versed in supernatural lore. Before, the supernatural could have been waved off as magic, religious, hokey-pokey nonsense. But around 1450, that had all changed. It had _all _changed. It was just nice not to be constantly looking over his shoulder for fear that an SRU Officer, Holy Inquisitor, or gang-banger juiced up on vampire or werewolf blood - or actually a vampire or werewolf - was on his tail. But perhaps he should have been.

Alaric was passing an alleyway as he heard the scuffing of boots against cobblestone. It was faint, any average mortal would likely have missed it. For a moment he thought someone was emerging to jump him and he spun around, cocking a fist, ready to throw a punch, but found no one. He furrowed his brow, taking a few paces back to peer down the alleyway. Peeking around, he thought he saw the source of the sound - a shadow flickered some distance down the dark, narrow side road. At first Alaric thought it might have been the shadows playing tricks, but he knew what he'd heard, clear as day - err, night. He took a few tentative steps down the alley, listening for any further signs that he was not alone. Sure enough, the rustling of cloth reached his ears and a muffled voice. He wasn't sure exactly what he was hearing, another rowdy couple getting it on in an alley? If that was the case, he'd pass. He was about to turn about to leave the mortals to their debauchery when the sound of glass shattering caused his eyes to widen as he snapped his gaze back down the alley. A robbery perhaps? Then it dawned on him, those muffled voices weren't someone trying to be quiet, it was someone being kept quiet. He was able to now discern that these were muffled cries of distress. Alaric picked his pace up, quietly gliding down the alley, keeping his footing light and allowing his feet to roll as he walked, muffling his footfalls. Sneaking around was kind of a must-have skill for Vampires that wanted to survive. Then he saw them, holding a black haired woman in what looked to be a commoner's garb - a green and white dress - to the wall with his hand clamped over her mouth was this burly thug of a brute, muscled and jacked to the brim like a bodybuilder. He stood easily a foot over the girl and perhaps a few inches taller than Alaric, donning what looked like some kind of black poncho, a surcoat perhaps, complete with a heavy dark hood. The man had hands down had put on more visible muscle. Neither of them had noticed him thanks to his stealthy approach, that and the thug seemed to occupied playing with his _prize_. Alaric could just sense the man's lecherous intent as the girl's basket was knocked to the side, a broken bottle spilling out of it, a sweet red liquid flowing down the street.

Now Alaric himself wasn't one for violence if it could be avoided, he didn't revel in death and slaughter like many older vampires did. If he could help it, he would always try to find a peaceful solution before coming to blows. But then, there were situations where someone would just cross the line. He may not have wanted to snap their necks, he may not have wanted to slit their throats and bleed them dry, he may not have wanted to draw their bellies open and strangle them with their own intestines. But that was the beast, the monster, not him. The monster was a fickle and frustrating entity. It would lash out when hungry or threatened, often times indiscriminately, but then there were times where, if leaned into, even a little bit, if given the reigns and freely gave yourself into it, it's frenzy, it's fury, could be directed. This was one of those times. The beast knew that without assistance the larger man might actually pose a threat, Alucard shut his eyes briefly and felt his blood seep into his muscles. Though they grew none, that brief, tense, straining sensation he felt in his arms and legs was enough to get him raring to go. He heard a slight rip coming from the woman's clothing and at this point, completely threw stealth out the window. He took several heavy steps forward, alerting the man to his presence as he held the girl in place with one hand while partially turning around to face the monster behind him. Once he locked eyes with his assailant, the man released the girl and threw a punch at Alucard. The Vampire grabbed the man's fist as it flew at him, stopping it cold. The thug looked dumbfounded, how in the world could this average looking teen stop the full force punch of an adult muscle machine like himself. He never quite got the answer he was looking for as Alucard gave him a taste of his own medicine. He clamped his hand over the man's mouth and slid his opposing hand down the man's arm, flicking his wrist as he dug his hand under the man's shoulder and grasped the inside of his bicep before jerking his arm back into the straight and narrow - his unholy blood fueling his strength, the man's arm didn't stand in the way. Bone shattered and blood sprayed as every bone, every link and every joint in the man's arm was snapped, cracked and broken. Bits of bone protruded from the man's thick muscles, Alucard could feel them poking his arm through the man's surcoat sleeve. The man screamed in pain, but his cries were muffled by Alucard's hand, though in just a moment they'd be muffled by a wall as he whipped the man around a full one-eighty degrees, slinging him into the brick wall next to where he'd been restraining the black haired girl. The man's face caved in the brick slightly with a resounding crack, his face buried an inch into the solid wall, cracks forming around where his face impacted. Alucard held him there for a moment, the man's arms had gone slack and he realized he was holding the man up with his own strength. He furrowed his brow and pulled the man's head away from the wall - a sinister grin crossing his lips. The man's face - just like the wall - had been shattered. Torn up and bloody with a flattened nose and several shards of red brick and grey mortar peppering his blood smeared face. His skin tore and muscle could be seen bulging out from some of these tears as it expanded, having nowhere else to go to escape the incoming wall. Alucard emitted a faint huff to accompany his grin, pleased with himself as he cast the corpse aside with a thud. His expression then returned to a more neutral one, he hadn't made him suffer enough. He suddenly found himself less content with his handiwork. He stared down at the corpse for a moment, relishing in the kill - this was a man the world was better off without, surely. Surely…

He shook his head, coming back to his senses, the frenzy passing, leaving him a little light headed. Alaric looked down, mortified at what he'd done. He wasn't so much distraught at the kill, but by how swiftly and unfeeling he'd felt doing it. He'd swore to himself, that no matter the situation, he would not take the loss of a life lightly. No matter the circumstance. To do so was to invite the monster, to become more and more accustomed to it. To do so was to let your mortality slowly slip through your fingers as killing gradually became second nature. It was how many old vampires degenerated, the process was slow at first, damn near unnoticeable. Sometimes you'd realize what you'd let yourself become, but by then it could already be too late. Even so, even as he was mortified with himself, he found himself coming to the conclusion that he wouldn't be losing any sleep over the death of this man as he looked back towards the black haired girl who by this point had slumped to the ground, shaking. Upon closer inspection, the woman seemed to be alright, she didn't bare any obvious wounds - though it was impossible for Alaric to tell if blood had been drawn as the freshly bloodied corpse of the man behind him drowned out any aroma that he might detect from her. He took a light step toward her, letting his footfall be heard. The girl tensed up, even as he knelt down. She hadn't yet dared to peek up from the arms that sheltered her face. Alaric noticed a tear in the girl's dress, near the chest area. He dipped his head, closing his eyes, but not to activate any powers. A light sigh escaped his lips; "Hey, are you alright?" he asked, lowering his voice and doing his best to sound empathetic - for he was, truly. He raised a hand, intent on trying to comfort her, but after what she'd just been through, being touched might end up doing the exact opposite and he retracted his hand before reaching her. Instead he just knelt there, giving her time to collect herself, she would look up when she was ready. He rested his forearm across his knee, eyes darting to his left at the dropped basket. It looked to be one of those specially crafted baskets, separated out into smaller square sections for carrying bottles. It was knocked over, but most of the bottles were still intact, only one had been shattered. Alaric reached down and dipped a finger into the sweet smelling red liquid, bringing it back up to his mouth and licking it; wine. He'd suspected as much. While waiting for the girl to recollect herself, he decided to recollect the wine bottles that had been strewn about, gathering up all seven of the remaining bottles, slotting them back in the basket after writing it back up straight. While doing this, he heard the girls weeps of fear subside and felt eyes on the back of his head, but didn't divert his attention from his current task. Once he was finished he slid aside towards the man's corpse, tugging at his surcoat, pulling the black overcoat off the dead man - he folded it up and threw it over his shoulder, it would be baggy on him, but at least this looked like it could give him _some _degree of sun protection if he ever needed it. Afterwards, he spared a moment to finally look back at her. The girl's grey, almost black eyes stared back at him, peeking up from behind her folded arms which lay atop her knees. "Thank you." she quietly stated, her voice weak.

Alaric bit his lower lip subtly, nodding back. "Don't mention it." he quietly replied. He then tensed up, remembering he was technically lingering around the scene of a crime, something that the modern nights had taught him never to do unless you wanted to be asked a million questions - some of which could land you in the slammer and/or get you staked! "Uh… here." he stood back to his feet, offering the girl a hand up. The girl was hesitant at first, but after a couple seconds of staring up at the offered hand, took it, with Alaric hoisting her to her feet without strain as his vampyric blood still coursed through his muscles. It was as if she just glided back to her feet. Even she seemed surprised with how smooth the transition had been, her eyes widening. He then bent down to pick up the dropped basket, holding it up to the girl, "Please, allow me. And, if you would wish it, also allow me to escort you to your destination." he said, looking the girl in the eye. In return, she would see no ill intent, rather the desire to ensure that such an occurrence like this not happen again this night and for what it was worth, to provide some form of consolement while en-route. Traumatic events like this would weigh on anyone's soul, even the immortal - and it helped to have a willing ear to listen and a sympathetic voice to console and comfort one as they worked through coping with what had happened.

The girl nodded. "Yes… I… I'd like that. But, who are you?" she asked, looking up at him as she released his hand. Alaric pursed his lips, that wasn't as easy a question to answer as he'd of liked, but the girl deserved that much. So, he went with his personal favorite of the three; _Alaric_. "Alaric?" she asked, getting a quiet nod in response. Her gaze dipped and she seemed to stare down at his chest or abdomen, her eyes darted right, glancing past him at the mangled corpse behind him. She seemed disturbed, to put it mildly, recoiling slightly and covering the lower half of her face with a hand as she tried not to gag. Though, in the end she was able to keep it down. "Jessica." she added. Alaric put two and two together; _"Her name, idiot, she's giving you her name."_

He nervously scratched behind his head - you'd think that a classy, high society, aristocratic vampire from the middle-ages would be good with women, trained in courtly mannerisms in the arts of wooing, romancing and then inevitably _bedding _said women. That couldn't have been further from the truth. "U-uh…" he stammered, the rip in her dress causing her substantial bust to reveal a bit more cleavage than was probably normal - or, wait… no, that was just how her dress was designed. Wait, so that meant her alluring appearance was intentional? He mentally facepalmed, wincing. "Uh- that is, please… let us err- _away_?" he offered extending his arms, complete with basket down the length of the alley, opposite of the bleeding corpse, going from brave folk hero to the babbling village fool in a matter of seconds. He dropped his arms to his side, "I'm sorry." he apologized, but for what he wasn't quite sure. The girls stared back at him for a second, at first she simply regarded him, then a smile slowly crept across her face. She emitted a faint chuckle, covering her mouth.

"You're a strange one." she commented, though given the tone of her voice, she didn't seem to think that was a bad thing. "Come, it's only a few blocks away. My father and I run an inn nearby." she began to lead the way, with Alaric following closely behind. "He warned me to be back before dark… but… I guess I lingered too long, by the time I headed back the sun was down. Oh, he's probably worried sick."

"Well, at least you're alright." Alaric replied, keeping a steady pace with her. She seemed none worse for wear as she was walking at fair speed, though he continued to hold onto the wine basket for her. "I'm sure he'll be glad to see you safe, but tell me about this inn you guys operate." he asked, slightly curious - this might just be the kind of place he was looking for to get the laydown of the land.

"Well, sort of inn, sort of tavern." she replied, "It's called the Enchanted Fairy Cafe." her tone had shifted from that of timid meekness after her debacle, to that of pride and accomplishment. She sounded like this place was her life's pride and joy, like she'd poured every ounce of her soul into this place. It must have been something truly impressive. Though it wasn't long before he found himself second guessing that conclusion as he looked up to the sign that hung above the door - plastered various bright colors with a strange… man… thing… painted behind the letters. Given the place's name, he wondered if it could be some kind of supernatural hangout, akin to The Blood Moon Irish Pub that Nathan's parents ran, a place where he might find other folk, fantasy, mythological and legendary creatures like himself - at the very least it had to be staffed by fae folk. But… then again, he'd sensed nothing supernatural about Jessica… of course not all fae-folk wore their nature on their sleeves. Really, few did and he was by no means an expert at determining someone's supernatural nature.

"Well, this is… flamboyant." Alaric commented as Jessica started to escape his sphere towards the door to the establishment. That would be the last honest - potentially - positive statement that he'd direct the inn's way for the remainder of the night. Because once he entered, what he saw was one of those memeable situations where one could easily get away with inserting a; _not sure if disturbed or mildly aroused._ Though in his mind, he was firmly in the _disturbed _section, setting the basket down atop the counter of the bar as he watched with horrified curiosity at the scantily dressed maid-like servants that waited on the men who visited the establishment. Sure, he could admit that most of them were cute and a few of them were actually physically attractive, but whether or not he appreciated it being displayed so… shamelessly, was another matter. By all means, they do them, buuuut, Alaric now found himself in the awkward position of being surrounded by attractive, alluringly dressed females. With he, the babbling village fool, with nothing to say for himself as he desperately tried to avoid looking at any of them to prevent his red face from being picked up on so easily. His previous expectations of this place had long since sprinted out the door when he finally laid eyes on the establishment's owner. His throat felt like it seized up and he was pretty sure that no supernatural flush of life would prevent the color from draining from his face. In fact, he desperately wanted to escape the situation he now found himself in, he'd willingly trade this situation for true death - preferably delivered by a salvo of 12-gauge buckshot to the face. It would be perfect, it would blind him while simultaneously dusting him. He wouldn't have to look upon this… whatever She- He- It- They- _fuck-_ was supposed to be. On the plus side, if there was to be one, he was pretty sure he just discovered a new acronym.

"Aaaahh! Jessica! You have safely come back to us!" _SHIT _cried as _SHIT_ made _SHIT'ers (SHIrT? Fuck it.) _way down the stairs. Who or whatever they were looked all kinds of messed up. Why? Alaric had _no _fucking clue. Now in the modern realm, he'd seen his fair share of LGBTQ and everything in between - which to his medieval mindset had… come as an initial shock, but eventually he kinda just _whatevered _it and rolled with it. So long as they weren't forcing him to change, let bygones be bygones right? Live and let live. It didn't shake him any less when he found people who took it to another level however, throw him for a loop if you will. He'd… adapt… maybe, give him some time. He swallowed hard, trying to keep himself from making any potentially offensive outbursts. He didn't need to cause a scene right now - well, anymore of a scene than what was currently before him. Nonetheless, this was… awkward, that buckshot would be very much appreciated right now.

"Yes father, I ran into some trouble on the way back, but you needn't worry, this young man here saved me." Jessica replied to the man. Alaric was going to go with man for now until he was told otherwise. But for now he merely stood, semi-paralyzed at the corner of the bar counter. He found it hard to move as the two approached him, he strained his gaze to mainly focus on Jessica as - misogyny not intended - she was _much _easier on the eyes. As in, she didn't make him want to get staked, set on fire and then kicked out into the sun before embracing the sweet, sweet bliss of true death. There was a deep, annoyed groan in the back of his mind, it seemed even his inner beast was somewhat littled by current events - though he was sure it wasn't pleased with the constant thought of everlasting death relapsing over and over every two minutes he stayed in this damn place. If the monster and mortal could appear as those comical cartoonish sprites over his shoulders, he was sure the monster would be trying to strangle the mortal, who gleefully would just smile blankly into the sky while accepting his fate. "Father, this is Alaric." Jessica said, introducing him and unfortunately snapping him out of his mental haven. _Shit._

"What a cute boy, Jessica you have certainly found a keeper!" the man exclaimed, gleefully so. Alaric tensed up, even as Jessica playfully laughed at her father's quip. Alaric's jaw clenched shut, nope, he wasn't going to make an outburst, he wasn't going to make the situation worse.

"_How. THE FUCK. Could you make it worse?" _Alucard screamed in the back of his mind, causing Alaric to mentally cringe. It was just like the him to get snippy when he least needed it. _"I don't knooooowww!" _Alaric whined back, _"Gimme a break, you asshole!"_

Once he'd quieted his mind, Alaric forced himself to take a deep breath. "Thanks, but it was just my good deed for the night." he replied, doing his best to sound casual, holding his tongue from making any weird or out of place sounds. This didn't seem to help matters much as Scarron essentially just repeated himself, albeit now the abridged version; _He's a Keeper_. Which really was starting to test him.

"Please, allow me to treat you to free food and drink for saving my best girl!" Scarron proclaimed, an offer which for an entirely different reason, Alaric was hesitant to accept.

"Err, no, that's really not necessary." he replied, raising and waving his hands dismissively while giving his head a good shake; _no._ It wasn't for any petty reason, if the place he was visiting back in the mortal, modern realm, was a supernatural establishment and they knew what he was - such as the Blood Moon pub - then sure. There he could make careful, selected choices. Also modern cooking methods made it so that - ironically - meals considered unhealthy for mortal humans, were the best choices for one such as him. See, the thing was, for all the strengths and features that the Vampire body held, they were riddled with plenty of flaws and weaknesses. Of course there were the obvious banes; holy water, stakes, fire, sunlight, but then there were those tiny intricacies that made you look at a vampire sitting at the dinner table with an untouched salad and ask; _why_? Well, simply put, vampires by their nature were carnivores, but not just regular carnivores. In ye olden days, the only things that vampires would reliably eat was meat. Straight off the bone or lightly singed. Cooking back then meant you had to stand over an open fire - and with fire being one of a vampire's primary banes, you could understand why most vampires didn't want to spend long over one. Regardless, if a vampire ate anything other than meat - bread, fruit, vegetables, hell even _fish_ sometimes, it was coming _right _back up. Yup, anything other than meat would make a vampire horribly sick, though it wasn't because they were picky eaters. But because of this one, questionable feature their bodies lacked that regular mortal humans did. Their bodies, lacked the means to effectively process anything more complex than pure protein if it wasn't in liquid form. Broccoli and cauliflower with all those micro-nutrients and good, healthy components in there? A vampire's body couldn't process it, so instead, it just expelled it all - _get out of my body_ \- kinda thing. If that meant losing quantities of precious dark ichor to do so, then so be it. It wasn't until the modern age that vampire's mortal diets could expand; with the addition of friers, heavy uses of cooking fats and whatever have you, modern foods were _dumbed down _enough that a vampire could enjoy it without spewing it all out on the floor. There were even vampires who lived in Australia, South America and Asia who found a loophole for enjoying fruits - even finding a particular taste for them - by making them into smoothies and milkshakes thanks to modern food processing technology. The blender and fryer, as it turned out, were a modern vampire's best culinary friend. A hamburger with white processed bread and fried onions and smokey ketchup and campfire mayo with fries were one of Alaric's favorites at the Blood Moon - they had no complex nutrients in it and his supernatural metabolism made it so that he'd never gain weight while the fact that he was, well, _undead_, made it so that any mortal crap he put into himself never adversely affected his health. It was a win-win-win! But now that all comes back to the here and now. Because back in ye' olden days, virtually everything the common folk ate was hearty, stacked full of all those complex nutrients that his vampire body just couldn't handle. Unless it came in soup form, then maybe he could stomach it, but he might end up with stomach cramps the following night.

Thankfully it wasn't quite to be so. All that was placed in front of him, without his full consent mind you, was a plate of roast beef atop a large leaf of lettuce, topped with onions - they were raw, so he'd just avoid those… and the green, he'd avoid that also. Other than that, a tall mug of ale was set next to him, courtesy of Jessica. Since it was liquid, he could down it no problem - but getting intoxicated was nigh impossible, his metabolism wouldn't let him get _fucked up _so easily. No, the easy road for that was simply to feed on someone who in turn was already intoxicated. That would get him far better than a dozen pints of ale would. Still, while half of him wanted to just up and leave, that little mortal on his shoulder insisted that he not be rude. So of course, Alaric listened to it. Jessica turned to take her leave, but before she could take another step away, Alaric made a request; "Wait, Jessica, would it be alright if I asked you a few questions?"

She turned around, looking past him as her father returned to his active duties, whatever those might have been, Alaric didn't particularly care - right now or ever - though he'd slowly gotten over his initial shock and now was more invested in obtaining the answers he'd been seeking all night. "Sure. I've got time to spare for my savior." she replied, likely causing Alaric's face to flush again as she sat down across from him at the bar counter.

"Alright, thank you. I just… well," he contemplated how best to put it. He was sure that saying; _hey, I'm from another realm… or dimension… or whatever_, was a bad idea, besides how the hell would he even work that into casual conversation, he just couldn't. "I'm not from around here see?" he offered, causing her to slip into a coy smile. So he wasn't terribly surprised when she said that she'd guessed as much. "What gave you that impression?" he asked.

"Well, your accent for starters, you speak perfectly fine Tristanian, but you've an accent I can't quite place." she replied. _Tristanian? _He slightly furrowed his brow, now he wasn't a linguist by any stretch, but he was pretty sure he was speaking French. Best keep that thought tucked away for now.

"Alright, so what can you tell me about this… place?" he asked, motioning with a free hand around the general area. When she asked him if she meant the tavern, he further elaborated; "No, I mean the city, this country." he replied, doing his best to remain just vague enough that she didn't catch onto his utter lack of world knowledge.

"Oh, well as you may already know, this is the Kingdom of Tristain, the smallest kingdom in the west of Halkegenia. Right now we're in the capital city; Tristania. We're one of the four Brimiric nations, though we aren't particularly strong in our own right. Being the smallest nation, we often get pushed around by our neighbors. Our Princess, Henrietta de Tristain allegedly has been looking into potential supportive arranged marriages, but we've not heard anything solid from the palace yet, nothing has been announced. Technically none of this is supposed to be common knowledge, but hey, what can you do when drunk nobility love this place - loose lips, sink ships after all." Jessica explained. As far as Alaric could tell, this world operated through similar political schemes to that when he'd first entered torpor in the mortal realm, back in the 1400s… he felt like he already got the jist of it.

"Alright… anything else?" he asked, hoping to get more… only for her to artfully dodge the question;

"Nothing you shouldn't already know. Outside of Tristain, the rules are fairly similar all around." she replied. _Smooth_. Alaric quietly cringed in the back of his head as he chomped down on a piece of relatively rare roast beef. He had to admit, it was a pretty good- err, brisket? Sure. Of course he hadn't devoured everything, he wasn't going to make himself look like a pig. He knew it couldn't have been long since he arrived in the city, but in this world, his internal clock was bound to be all out of whack. His senses told him that the sun should be rising soon, but when he gazed out the nearby window across his left, it looked still to be the dead of night. It must have been near dawn, back in the mortal realm. If only he had his damned charm. Being a daywalker was just so… elating. Even though he was enjoying Jessica's company, he couldn't shake the feeling that he should find a dark place to spend the day. A feeling that he knew was going to drag him back to that magic academy he'd arrived at when getting sucked into this plane of existence.

"Hey, thanks Jessica. For the information and food." he said, raising his mug in her name, arms half folded over the counter. She smiled back, giving him a nod.

"Don't mention it." she replied, mirroring his words, only their situations reversed. "But… no, really, you deserve the biggest thanks. I don't want to even think of what may have happened if you hadn't come along."

Alaric turned his gaze back to his mug, smirking and shaking his head humbly. "No, no, I'm sure if not me, a guardsman would have come along instead." he said, trying to downplay his involvement. There was a brief silence as the two reflected;

"No, I don't think any would have." Jessica replied, "Thank you." Another long pause passed between them. "Y'know, if you want a place to stay the night…" she began and Alaric could hear the tone in her voice. Alluring, tempting, seductive. She was just starting. But to Alaric that had been too sharp a turn to make. So he popped the classic excuse.

"It's fine, I've a place, besides, there's somewhere I need to be." he replied, sliding off his stool and unfolding his stolen surcoat - dried flakes of blood clung to the black fabric, but at a distance they'd be excruciatingly difficult to make out. "But again, thanks, I'll stop by in the future." he added, though he suspected that he was partially lying. Meeting her again would be nice, but… not in _this _establishment. With that he threw the surcoat he'd acquired over his shoulders donning the hood as he passed through the door, he began to turn towards a side road when he heard footsteps approaching the door behind him. Jessica wasn't quite finished with him. But Alaric had no desire to prolong this encounter and took off at a sprint towards and down the road. His senses still were telling him that he needed to find haven soon, with nowhere else in mind, he would head back to the magical academy. He hooked a corner, intent on losing Jessica before she managed to catch up, though really with his speed the latter wasn't happening. He ducked into another alley, doing a quick scan to make sure the coast was clear before with a running start, jumped as high as he could, his form dissipating into mist before reforming as his kind's signature flying rodent. He turned a quick dive to the side across a rooftop to cut any line-of-sight associations that this _random _bat might have with that alleyway before veering back towards the main gate of the city, following it back to the academy. As he left the city behind and the academy entered view, thoughts of the girl he'd damn near killed re-entered his mind. How could he ever make it up to her? She'd said something about getting her morning attire ready for her… well… it was a start. Hopefully now though, she knew just who - or what - she was dealing with, assuming she hadn't already blown the whistle. But seeing as there were no hunting mobs prowling the school grounds, he assumed he was in the clear. He landed on her window sill and found the window unlocked. He pushed the window open, gently, peering in through her curtains, even in bat form he had no trouble entering the room. Inside, he found her fast asleep. It seemed she'd been able to sleep regardless of prior events. Good. Good on her. Brave. No that was not intended as foreboding or condescending. Though while his senses told him dawn was coming, reality confirmed that he probably had a couple more hours at least before sunrise, he could use that time to prepare her an apology. Once he was done, he spotted a nice little nook in her open closet that he could hang from in bat form - it would be sheltered perfectly from the sun and if he was being honest, he didn't mind at all sleeping in bat form. As his demonic, succubus friend Chelsea would have told him; _you make an adorable air doggo_. Which only took him a few weeks to understand where her statement had come from… the internet was a weird place. The only issue he saw with these potential living conditions was the girl, Louise. If she'd learned her lesson about the fangs in the dark and showed him a basic, decent respect and the same from he to her, then they'd have no problem…

"_Oh, you can't be seriously considering lowering yourself to that level!" _Alucard thought quietly to himself. He shook his head to no one in particular.

Oh, if only things would just go smoothly for once, _"Lets just avoid any more frenzy filled rampages while we're staying here, alright bud? Can we just stay out of trouble for a bit, that would be just dandy." _Alaric thought. Pfft, yeah that might be asking for a bit much. Still, even just a week without incident - no animalistic fits of rage, no Sun-Li thugs shooting the place up, no ADAM operatives stalking him and his friends and definitely no Carmilla themed bullshitery... that'd be a nice change of pace…

Oh, but if he knew...

* * *

**07/06/2019, Bulletin: Been thinking that I'll continue this regardless of whether or not my previous project. If it gets reviews, follows and favorites. I started posting again on Fanfiction with a desire to get a name for myself again after a long absence as well as a curiosity; that is I want to know if my new style is any good (or if it's shit), with a desire to improve regardless. I want to do this professionally (writing that is), so while I don't want to be **_that _**kinda creator, constructive reviews (good or bad), follows, favorites and a general display of interest means more chapters. It may sound like bullshit, but if I'm not getting feedback, then half the reason for me coming back to Fanfiction is moot. I hope you understand. With that said, I am working on a third chapter, so that will come out regardless of activity.**


	3. Monster or Mortal?

**Longest chapter I've ever submitted to this site in the decade I've been here… please enjoy!**

**10/06/2019 - NOTE: Scan for typos is only a quarter finished, I'm tired and I just want you guys to be able to enjoy, so I'll finish editing tomorrow, heh.**

**11/06/2019 - EDIT: Fixed a bunch of typos; if(s) where it(s) or is(s) should have been, going instead of doing, that sort of thing. And a few punctuation/grammar fixes.**

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Light dimly shone through her window, catching her shut gaze as she turned in her sleep, her mind beginning to come to. Louise's eyes slowly slid open - as did her mouth, emitting a long, drawn out yawn, accompanied by a wide armed stretch. Today was going to be another da- wait, didn't she close the window last night? She paused and scanned her room, she felt something at her feet. She looked to the foot of her bed where a set of her clothes was neatly folded next to her feet. She furrowed her brow, she didn't remember putting those out.

Louise did another double pan of her room; yep, the window was fully ajar and there was evidence that someone had rustled through her things. She nervously slipped off her bed and peeked out the window, not a soul in sight. She scoured the entirety of her room, checking under the bed, in her wardrobe, in her drawers, in her vanity - because why not - and just for good measure double checking under the bed. Nothing. Last night hadn't been a dream, she knew it wasn't. She still felt slightly wobbly and there was a ghostly pressure on her throat that lingered from the other night.

There was no way she dreamed up all that, a dream wouldn't explain her physical state, the clothes on her bed or the disturbing feeling that Louise tried her best to put down. That bite, it wasn't there anymore, but she still felt its lingering effects; the terror she'd felt - she wanted to curl up into a ball and hide. The serenity she'd felt - she could have drifted off in his embrace. The pleasure she'd felt - she never wanted it to end. All these conflicting feelings, all just from one bite. They weren't as strong as they had been in the moment, but even so, they lingered just enough to remind her how it had felt. As if taunting her, teasing her. She shook her head violently, trying to shake it. What time was it?

Louise returned to her window and peeked outside again, she'd woken up a little earlier than usual. Oh well, that at least gave her plenty of time to get ready before breakfast. She swung by the foot of her bed, looking down at the prepared clothes that had been left for her. Had he done this? The last she'd seen of him was his flight from her room. Crap, had she forgotten to lock her window last night? The thought worried her. Still, a creature like him, doing this for her? She didn't understand it, he could have just ended her that night if he'd wanted too, instead she wakes to find him doing her favors. Then something ticked in the back of her mind; _of course he'd be doing her favors_. He was still her familiar after all. Maybe not all was lost in that case. Maybe she could even tame the monster for herself? Yes, that's what she'd do! The Aristocrat in her cheered the idea of having such a powerful creature at her beck and call, but there was still that little voice in the back of her head, little Louise the Zero who she tried her best to ignore, flailing her arms and screaming; "_No, this is a bad idea, this is a STUPID idea. This is a SUICIDAL idea!"_

She didn't care, after all, if she let this boy, monster or not, get the better of her, then what did that say about her as a noble? It meant she was a pushover, willing to let a lowborn creature like him force his own desires and wills upon her just because he was a little scary. _NO, he is VERY scary! You idiot! _Go away Zero, Louise the Noble was on deck and she wasn't going to take crap from anyone, not even herself! She'd start putting her plan in motion next time she saw him, assuming… he didn't actually run away. The thought just occurred to her for the first time since last night. She'd _wanted _him to stay away, but now, where she once saw a threat that she wanted as far from her as possible, now she saw a challenge. Her stomach growled at her and she shook her head, freeing her wandering mind from its distracted drabble. She finished getting dressed, something _he _should have done for her, but she'd make sure that he understood his position later.

Louise cast her door open and thundered down the stairs - at least as _thundering _as her light footsteps would allow - before leaping out of the bottom doorway to the tower. She almost took a tumble into the dew stained grass as she exited, flailing her arms before she managed to right herself without taking a spill. "Oh, Louise, I see you're up early." said a familiar voice from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see Kirche with her new salamander familiar, standing at the door to the tower with a hand on her hip, smug-ass grin spreading across her face. "And where's your new familiar? Oh, sorry, I meant common servant?" Louise tensed up as Kirche prodded at her - she didn't need her provocation this early in the morning! "Y'know, I bet you didn't even summoning him, I bet you just grabbed some guy nearby since you couldn't summon anything - in which case, I really should give you props for creating that explosion on command, it served as a nice distraction." Kirche continued, Louise not fully sure if that was intended as a full on diss, either way she wasn't having it.

"Oh yeah! Who? Who else was nearby that I could have grabbed!" she barked back, clenching her fists. Wait, _that _was her best defense? Her eye ticked and she stammered out a correction; "What I meant was, I didn't just summon some random commoner! I summoned something _way _more powerful than your stupid lizard!" That would show her! Wait… was it really wise for her to go around proclaiming she'd summoned a vampire? Vampires were supposed to be extinct in Halkegenia. They only existed as legendary, fairy tale creatures. Tabitha had summoned one of those endangered Rhyme Dragons and it had caused quite enough of a stir around campus, just think what would happen if the school learned that she'd summoned such a dangerous entity. Being called Louise the Zero would have been the least of her worries then!

If she boiled it down to the best case scenario, she might have just been expelled for resurrecting one of the most feared and infamous creatures to ever roam the world… at worst. She didn't want to think about it. And to make matters even worse, as it stood, she couldn't control him! What if he was out there somewhere, causing all hell to break loose?! What if he was turning others into vampires? Oh no, what if vampires spread out across Halkengenia again - all because of her! She stared blankly up at Kirche, the color draining from her face as she thought about the possibility. She had to find a way to control him, she HAD to!

"Hey! Louise!" Kirche jabbed, causing Louise to break her trance, shaking her head. "I said; _is. That. So?_" Kirche repeated, though Louise hardly remembered her saying it the first time. As inquisitive as Kirche was behaving and as much as she wanted to outperform her in any regard possible. Coming clean about the whole vampire thing was a _bad _idea she just couldn't get behind.

"Yeah, that is so." Louise replied, pivoting on her heels to leave Kirche behind. And to keep her from asking any more questions. Hopefully she got the hint. She glanced over her shoulder to see Kirche following loosely behind. Louise clenched her fist; she didn't want to talk anymo- oh, wait no she was just headed to the dinning hall like she was. She took a deep breath, exhaling sharply through her nose. _Alright_, nothing to fret over. _"Just try to enjoy breakfast alright, you're not you when you're hungry."_ she thought. That was fair. She did her best to enjoy it, finding her spot at the nearly room length dining table, but even so, she couldn't. She felt eyes on her back stemming from every-which-way. They were judging her - _where was her familiar _they were probably thinking. Or, _oh look, it's Louise, the one who summoned a regular boy_. Hah, she _wished _he was just a regular boy right now. At least then it wasn't her neck on the line.

Breakfast went by with little more than slow, methodical chewing - the food was good, as it always was, but she found little enjoyment in it. She scooped up a croissant from one of the food trawlies that the servants rolled around to refill the plate of those wishing for seconds, then headed out the front door, munching on the buttery bun. She needed _someone _to talk to about all this. At this point, she'd even have settled for the biter himself. Just penting all this up was causing her no small amount of stress. It tore at her, stretched her and she even felt like it was rapidly tacking on the years by the hour. By this time tomorrow, if she didn't find some way to vent she was going to be freaking thirty. Brimir preserve her, if she found a grey hair any time in the near future, she was blaming the biter. Then she remembered something. There was one teacher in the school who had a plentiful wealth of knowledge concerning long lost legendary creatures. Even better, it wasn't one of the ones who openly belittled her. She jammed the pastry in her mouth, holding it by the corner of its crescent as she raced towards Mr. Colbert's lab.

It was on the other side of the school from her dormitory, but thankfully, there were no classes today, today was to be spent bonding their their summoned familiars and then the weekend was immediately after that, so it was all good. Today _should _have been relaxed, but for Louise it was the polar opposite. Even as she ran towards Mr. Colbert's lab, she saw servants setting out tables next to the gargantuan tower in the middle of the schoolyard for those aristocrats that desired to spend their day lounging and basking in the sun - complete with refreshments. Louise passed next to the wall that the lab was attached to, the large stone battlements casting a wide shadow on the field below. Louise ran through the shade to reach the lab door before skidding to a halt, knocking on the door. It was early, but Mr. Colbert was a known early riser. He prided his work to such a degree that even Louise had to give him credit where it was due. She waited for a moment, nothing… she knocked again. "One moment!" came the voice of the balding teacher. "Come in."

Louise opened the door, quickly scanning the room for her teacher, laying eyes on him across the small, humble wooden table that was decorated with alchemy supplies - vial racks, distilling kits, beakers and flasks. Her blood ran cold as she saw who stood across the table from him, donning a black surcoat, complete with hood. He looked back at her, his black hair just as lustrous as it had been when she first summoned him and his beautiful, deep blue eyes. Her heart both seized up and fluttered all in one motion. The boy shut his eyes and dipped his head apologetically. "Sorry for… uh, freaking you out the other night." he said, his tone all soft, remorseful.

Mr. Colbert looked between the two with slight interest. The boy raised his head slightly, opening his eyes, though they shifted to the corner, gazing down towards the floor. He appeared to be expressing regret, Louise clenched a hand over her chest. She wanted to tell him it was okay, give him a hug and forgive him. _Wait_. No. No she didn't. She wanted to slap him, kick him in the groin and throw lightning at him. It was the bite! It had to be the bite that was messing with her head! ARRGH! "But." he resumed, getting her mind to shift from her inner thoughts to reality as he spoke. The boy took a deep breath, shaking his head; "You _were _the one to summon me. Perhaps if you'd summoned a regular familiar, we wouldn't be in this mess." Louise swore she heard just a hint of snark enter his tone.

Louise nearly went for her wand to punish the insolent dog, how dare he pin the blame on her! But then her heart finally unfroze and sank about a foot in her chest; he was right. She had summoned him. If only she'd summoned something else! Maybe a corgi? She'd be perfectly fine with a corgi. She couldn't order it around, but at least then she'd have an adorable little fluff ball to play and snuggle with that _wouldn't kill her in her sleep!_ Probably.

Mr. Colbert cleared his throat, getting both of them to divert their attention from one another and back to him. "Alaric, I had noticed something strange when you first arrived, that's true. But as I said, I don't know the rune on your hand off the top of my head, I don't think I've ever seen it before - at least not first hand. I'll look into it and depending on my results, I'll get back to you." he said. The boy, Alaric as Mr. Colbert had referred to him, nodded back, though his brow was raised while doing so.

"_Depending on your results?_" Alaric asked, putting emphasis on the entire statement. Louise knew what the next words out of his mouth were going to be. It seemed that Mr. Colbert did as well.

"Honestly, it could be nothing. If so, I don't see any reason to continue this topic when there's more important subjects to pursue. _But _I highly doubt that will be the case." the teacher replied, leaning slightly on his staff. Mr. Colbert then smiled, "If you'd like, I can write up a short essay on my results, if what would quell your appetite."

Alaric chuckled once, though there was little warmth in it. He nodded. "I'd like that." he replied flatly, then cast another glance to Louise, his expression neutral, though his eyes darted away from her once they locked.

"Very well." Mr. Colbert finished, turning his gaze to Louise. The lab was pretty dark, natural light had a hard time getting inside, it made sense, Louise guessed, sunlight could spoil certain alchemical reagents and this little hut he used as a lab lacked any real cabinets or cupboards. "Now, Louise, I imagine you wanted to see me for something?" Mr. Colbert motioned towards the door, why else would she have been here?

Louise nodded, "Yes, I had some questions relating to the summoning ritual." she said. She wasn't sure that coming out about the true purpose of her visit while her familiar was present was wise. "Though on the note of familiars, wait for me outside!" she barked, glaring at Alaric who scoffed slightly at her outburst. He mumbled out a reply of acknowledgement before exiting, shutting the door behind him. Louise waited for a few moments, staring at the door, when she saw a faint purple outline shimmer over the door. She looked back to Mr. Colbert who had just finished waving his staff, resting the butt of it back on the ground. "There, now we may speak in private. Ms. Valliere, I have troubling news to inform you." so that's what the arcane field was all about. A spell of zone of silence. But she already knew what Mr. Colbert was going to say - she mirrored his words as they came out; "-familiar is a vampire." they both finished. Mr. Colbert tensed up as she met his words with her own. "You mean…"

Louise nodded, dipping her head. "He almost killed me last night. I guess… I guess leaving him in the sun so long, or something." she wasn't sure what drove him to fly into a frenzy last night. Did it really matter anymore? Though at the edge of her vision, while her head was turned to the floor, she saw Mr. Colbert shake his shiny head. On that note, how did Mr. Colbert manage to find out. She looked up, opening her mouth to ask him that very question.

"This is quite the treacherous situation we find ourselves in Ms. Valliere. When your familiar stopped me early this morning, I noticed several quirks of his. Really, I should have guessed back when you summoned him; the way smoke wafted off him long after being bound, how he reacted to direct sunlight and how he stuck to the shadows when I encountered him this morning." Mr. Colbert explained.

Louise's eyes widened, it was amazing that Mr. Colbert was able to reach that conclusion with so little information, but then again, if anyone could recognize a legendary creature on the spot, it was him. Maybe Lord Osmond could have, but… for Mr. Colbert this sort of thing was a passion project. "I was already a bit on edge, so once he'd gotten me inside, I made extra sure to stay alert so he couldn-" he paused, furrowing his brow, "Wait… Miss Valliere, did you say he attacked you the other night?" Louise nodded, "He didn't… bite you did he?"

Louise shifted her eyes to the corner, glancing towards the floor. She nodded again. She heard Mr. Colbert curse under his breath and for a moment Louise's heart froze as he turned around, kneeling down and started rummaging through what few drawers there were in this little ramshackle lab of his. When he stood back up he held a small bottle that easily fit in his palm. It was filled with a dark purple liquid with that looked like some kind of fragrant petals floating around in it. "Here, drink this. I don't know if it will help, but it's better than nothing."

Louise took the potion and gave a worried look to Mr. Colbert, what was he so worried about? Louise popped the potion and was about to down it when the teacher slid her a book he'd pulled out alongside the potion. He flipped it open to a specific page as he did so, then Louise finally downed the elixir. She gagged as the flowery taste lingered on her tongue, it didn't taste _bad _per say, it did however taste like lavender and honey, her natural instinct asking her; _why did you just eat a honey flavored bar of soap?_

"Now from the conversation we had, he confirmed that he wasn't from our world. This much I guessed as soon as I saw him. He'd come to me with questions you see. Anyways, while he isn't from our world and as you may know, Vampires haven't existed in our world since the times of Brimir - with them being one of the races he wiped out on his crusades. That being said, no physical depictions of vampires from our world exist, but enough arcane information about them survived that I've been able to learn how they work. And while vampires from our world might function differently from vampires from his world, I can't safely make that assumption. So here it is. Vampires create more of their kind through bites, if they bite you, you could become one." Mr. Colbert detailed.

Louise tensed up and her blood ran cold, no way, that was impossible. She looked down at the empty bottle in her palm, her hand trembling as she set it down on the table. She reached for the book, pulling it towards her, looking down at the paragraphs of text that ran through the pages. There was little in the ways of images, virtually nothing other than the border linings of the page and Gothic word art that made up headings and subheadings. "Keep the book, Miss Valliere, it may provide useful information about how to keep your familiar under control." Mr. Colbert continued, with Louise looking up from the book, her mouth slightly ajar as she looked at him pleadingly.

"What do I do? W-what have I done?" she asked, her pent up emotions; frustration, disappointment and regret boiling over. She was grateful to be able to openly discuss it with someone, but now that she was talking about it, her emotions flowed. They welled up in her chest and created a lump in her throat as they bottlenecked deep within her chest, each thought, every question, every atoning plea struggled to make it past her lips.

"For now, keep an eye on him. As it stands, we must be cautious. Don't give him too much leash Miss Valliere, not yet. See if you can control him if need be, but also, keep this quiet. We don't want to go alerting the world to this new potential threat. While your familiar may seem calm and even-tempered right now, there's no telling when or if that could change." Mr. Colbert told her, pausing for a moment as he slowly shook his head, coupled with a drawn out sigh; "There's so much we don't know yet."

Louise nodded, her mind rushed with various thoughts and emotions, dread being at the forefront. Surely Mr. Colbert was exaggerating, she couldn't imagine that the consequences of this _one _flubbed summon would ripple across Halkegenia; "_but you even thought so yourself", _she remembered. She clenched her firsts, holding them close to her chest, breathing heavily to calm herself.

Then with her hand trembling, she reached out and took the book Mr. Colbert had offered her, tucking it under her cloak. It added a fair bit of weight to her cloak, making her a little off balance, but such was a minor price compared to everything else. She then began to come up with a plan… it was risky. If her familiar caught on, she was screwed, if he called her bluff, she was screwed, if anyone else found out, she was screwed, hell, it could damn well simply end up getting her killed. But it seemed to be the only plan that held any real viability, at least that presented itself and could actually be executed.

"I know what I have to do." Louise confirmed to her teacher, forcing herself to shove her worries, fears and doubts as far down as she could - tie rocks to them so they didn't come back up. From what Louise could gather, nobody wanted her familiar's true nature to be let slip; not her, not Colbert and not even her familiar. As stated, it was risky, but if her familiar didn't want the whistle to be blown, he'd listen to her. As far as he knew, she was the only one who knew what he was. She'd have to be cautious though, as Mr. Colbert had said, he seemed cordial enough when spoken to, but Louise knew what lurked under that facade. If she threatened to blow the whistle, there might just be a line she needed to avoid crossing, but at the same time she needed to seem like she meant it, that she'd actually follow through with her threats if push came to shove. "I'll be going now." she said, getting a nod from her teacher.

"Very well, I'll continue to conduct research, check in with me from time to time… and Miss Valliere." Mr. Colbert started to reply as Louise was making her exit. She looked over her shoulder as she placed her hand on the door handle. "Be careful." he ended, dipping his head solemnly at her. "I cannot stress this enough." Louise didn't verbally reply, she waited until he looked back up and gave him a single, firm nod. She knew the line she walked and at least on a personal level - what was at stake. Now it was time to stick her neck out and pray this worked out. She exited Colbert's lab and quickly looked around for her familiar, he wasn't here… she clenched her fist, it wasn't enough that he was what he was, but if he couldn't even listen to a simple _wait here_, then she was thoroughly fucked. Wait - Louise furrowed her brow as something on the wall caught her attention, she looked up to the top of the wall that surrounded the school grounds to see her familiar hanging off it, pulling himself up, how the hell had he gotten up there? And even more worrisome, what was he doing?

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It had maybe been a couple hours, at least one when Alaric opened his eyes again. He couldn't freaking sleep. His internal clock was much too far gone. He sighed quietly, though this came out as a faint squeak as he unfurled his wings and released his taloned grasp on the hook in Louise's closet, gliding to the floor and landing softly before returning to his human form. He pushed himself off the ground and back to his feet, dusting his knees off. He looked back to the open window on the other side of the room, the sun was coming up - and here he was unable to pass the day quickly. Of course, the hooded surcoat he'd swiped earlier would help and if he fortified his blood, he'd be able to withstand the sun much longer than he would otherwise. Though in practice he'd be able to tolerate the sun for ten minutes under these conditions before starting to need to find shelter to mend himself. Regardless of how much it hurt, the sunlight would heavily restrict the use of his powers; bat form was out of the question, and any of the powers he could still use would have their effectiveness drastically reduced.

He considered hanging around until Louise woke up, perhaps he could exchange some words before the day began in earnest, but there was just something eating at him. Thanks to his foray into Tristania, he knew what kind of place this world was, yet he still wasn't entirely sure what kind of _world the place_ was. He still thought it was some kind of supernatural pocket world - realm, dimension, whatever - just like they had all over the place. Separate instances of reality trapped in time and space, places where the mortal world and the occupied world diverged, creating their own realities. Yet for all intents and purpose, the mortal realm was the main reality, without it, none of these pocket realms could exist - for each one had its own boundaries. Given what Jessica had told him, about Tristain being only one of four _Brimiric _nations, he could only gather that this realm must have been titanic by comparison when compared against the average one. Still so many questions.

Alaric gently moved towards the window, peering outside. The sun was almost up, some natural light managing to find it way over the horizon and across the school yard. Alaric winced as the light hit him, recoiling and pivoting behind the wall. It wasn't light enough to cause any real damage, not yet. It wasn't very pleasant however. He glanced down at his left hand, lightly sighing as he clenched it shut. A bright red aura painted his forearm and fist, then quickly dissipated as his eyes dimmed back down, his skin gaining a creamy, pale coloration - ditching his duskier, ashen complexion.

In combination to this he made sure to fortify his blood against the sunlight. He timidly peeked back around the window, the light striking him, causing him to wince at first, but now it was merely distracting - later in the day however, when the sun fully beat down on the land, it would be a different story. He strained his eyes, he thought he saw someone in the distance. A man in a blue robe, or coat, walking across the field with a staff in hand, balding from the looks of it. There was something familiar about the man, then he remembered; he was the man that had been standing next to Louise upon his arrival to this realm. He just vaguely recalled his appearance and voice, a teacher at the academy he guessed. He was about to jump down from the tower, but froze before he could do so. There was something he had to do before he left.

"_Oh you can't be fucking serious?" _Alucard thought, "_You're really going to bend yourself down to that level? Might as well drop to all fours and kiss her fucking feet!" _to which he then shook his head, rolling his eyes to himself. Yes, he was going to do _that_. Not the later, but she _had _told him to have her clothes ready for her in the morning - as a gentleman and as mild apology, why not? He owed her more a debt than that, but it was a start.

He went about quickly and quietly sorting through the items necessary, even forcing himself against his will to go through her underwear just quick enough for him to toss it atop the neatly folded clothing that awaited her at the foot of her bed. It was good enough. _"Now to burn my hands off." _Alaric thought as he wiped his hands on his surcoat for one stupid reason or another. With that, Alaric saw himself from her room, crawling out onto the window sill and doing a methodical once-over of the school yard - the teacher had his back facing the dormitory and no one else was present. He was clear. He jumped from the window sill and landed just next to the small set of stairs that lead into the tower.

He looked back up to the window he'd leapt from; four… five stories tall? Either way, it was pretty close to the limit of how far he could fall, unassisted, and land safely on his feet. Immortal or not, at a certain point physics would laugh in defiance of that. He double checked to make sure nobody had seen, again, he was in the clear. He pulled his hood up and started to make his way across the slowly brightening grass field to catch up to the instructor across it. He seemed to be heading for a small shack opposite of the dormitory tower.

The stone walls that surrounded the school cast long shadows, so thankfully, Alaric was able to stay out of the encroaching sun, though he suspected that sooner or later he'd be forced into it on occasion, something that every fiber of his being rebelled against - though if there was a way to avoid it, he saw no alternative. Eventually, Alaric was close enough to where he felt comfortable calling out to the man. "Excuse me!" he called out, though not at a yell. It was quiet enough that a normal indoor voice would carry across the field far enough to be heard.

The man looked over his shoulder and flinched, tensing up and pointing his staff at Alaric, calling back; "Who's there!?" and for a moment Alaric found himself cocking a fist, ready to lunge at the man if he tried anything funny; the last thing he wanted was to be fried this early in the morning. But he managed to avoid getting himself worked up this time, reasoning that the man was just caught off guard - the black hood probably wasn't helping matters. He reasoned this was on him, more than the man and cast his hood down, holding his hands out and open towards the robed man. "Oh, you're Louise's familiar." mused the man, lowering his staff, though his gaze remained fixated on Alaric. That was fair, he was sorta skulking around and he had a right to be suspicious. Alaric however attempted to de-escalate the situation, waving in truce while nodding back a reply.

"Yeah," he started, slowing down after pulling an awkward _L-_turn to avoid walking into direct sunlight that began to stream across the field. Dawn's first light had arrived, the first light that was actually going to pose a health hazard to him that is. He made sure to stick to the shadows as much as he could to minimize exposure. So long as he wasn't in direct sunlight, he wouldn't be hurt - uncomfortable, yes - but he wasn't going to be reduced to ash. When he looked back at the teacher, his brow was raised… he'd picked up on that. "I just woke up, last thing I want right now is to be violently blinded." he offered, hoping the teacher would buy it. It seemed like he did as he nodded back, expression reverting back to normal. "Though I remember you vaguely from when I first arrived."

The teacher nodded, "Jean Colbert, I'm one of the professors of the establishment. Though if I may ask, what has you up so early in the morning?" Colbert asked, leaning slightly on his staff as the two of them paused in the field.

Alaric shrugged, starting off with his own name in response, motioning to himself; "Alaric," though there was really nothing to hide here; "and getting pulled to an alternate reality kinda messed up my internal clock. I _tried _sleeping, but it just wasn't happening." he offered, which again appeared to be accepted. Wait, _shit _he mentioned realities… but to his surprise, the keen professor had already tagged him in that regard - he wondered if that should worry him.

"As I expected." the professor replied, "Your appearance, your clothing, it all suggests you are from another place, perhaps another time too?" Colbert's expression went somewhat jovial; "As a matter of fact, you wouldn't be the only person or object summoned from another realm, it's happened before. I was actually headed on my way to my lab to conduct research concerning the matter." he explained, seeming to lose that protected mental exterior that he'd held before, eager to talk about his work, excited too. Alaric resisted the urge to raise a brow at the sudden change of attitude, this was good information he was getting, he could work with this - even more important, it revealed that he was not a once-off occurrence. If that was the case, then perhaps getting back to the mortal realm was well within reason, a possibility.

"Mr. Colbert was it?" Alaric started, getting two raised brows from the professor as his ramble was brought to a halt. "Would you be willing to show me some of this research? I… have many questions and perhaps I may shed some light on whatever you're working on." Alaric asked, offering a bit of a baited interjection. Information for information. It was a fair trade.

Colbert's mental shields went back up, he pursed his lips and furrowed his brow as he thought about the offer. It seemed he couldn't resist. He nodded back at Alaric. "Come, my lab isn't far from here." indeed, it was only a hundred or so more paces away, nestled up against the wall surrounding the school. Mr. Colbert opened the door and stepped inside. It was nice and dark in here, that is until the teacher lit a pair of candles around the small, one roomed structure. Still, it was well protected from natural light. Alaric liked this place. Though he couldn't help but awe at some of the object scattered around the room.

Alchemical supplies littered the table and shelves. Sketches and tomes were stacked atop countertops and a few artefacts decorated the room, held within secure glass display cases, complete with small silver padlocks. One of the artefacts in question was laid out on the table, a small red gem - probably a ruby. Alaric held a hand out to pick it up and inspect it, but the moment his hand made contact with it he felt something surge into him. It wasn't a physical feeling per say, but his morning hunger dissipated and he felt more… sated. He recoiled in surprise, releasing the gem, leaving it on the counter. The moment he released it however, his thirst returned. He could ignore it a while longer, but eventually he'd need to feed and it would be dangerous if left unchecked. "What the-..." Alaric started, before a faint cough caught his attention.

"I've called it the scale of the blood dragon." Mr. Colbert started, though Alaric couldn't help but notice that the professor had been gazing at him with a peculiar interest - but also with noticeable discomfort. He wondered if the ruby had elicited some kind of response from him? Had his eyes showed their true colors? He was starting to regret touching that gem… no, surely everything was fine. If it hadn't been, the professor would have fried him - or at least tried too. "According to legend, around two centuries ago, two dragons appeared over the skies never before seen. I've come across what I believe to be the scale of one of those beasts that supposedly was shed at the time." Colbert explained.

"No, that's…" Alaric mused, though to late had he realized he'd done so aloud. Ugh. He was so used to being open about supernatural elements. Among his friends - at least these days - he didn't have to hide what he was. How could he recover from this? The professor looked at him with a curiosity that rivaled that of the greatest minds in history, those who strove to discern life's great mysteries. "It's some kind of uh… _Thaumaturgy. _A bloodstone. Back home these were powerful magical items." Yes, that was how he could handle this. He'd done it once before. He could easily pose as some kind of mage. It would explain some of his powers while also giving him an out to talk openly about specific arcane knowledge.

But then a realization struck him. "So, wait you said these were from dragons that had never before been seen in this world, right?" Mr. Colbert nodded. That didn't make any sense. He ran a few scenarios through his head. Assuming he jumped the gun right off the bat and assumed these dragons were from his realm - and it had been two centuries ago, then that would have put the mortal realm firmly in the dawn of the 19th century. A time he'd missed out on. But according to his sources back home, his tech junkie friends, supernatural buffs and history buffs, dragons were wiped out on Earth not long after the widespread adoption of muskets and gunpowder.

The last dragon sighted was said to have been spotted in the final days of World War One, where it was shot down by a certain red German flying ace. So, _yes _technically dragons may have survived into the modern era, but the chance that one, let alone two, survived into the 19th century and made it to a separate realm was… well, actually it was pretty good. It would have been the perfect place to hide from all the modern technology mortals had available to them now.

But that still didn't change one thing. Whatever they had seen flying through the skies, it wasn't a real dragon. The fact that one of the so-called _scales _was really a bloodstone proved it. Bloodstones were a bloodied alchemical reagent created by vampyric thaumaturgy. They could be used to transfer life essence between individuals and could be stored _much _longer than bottled vitae or bags of plasma, having a virtually indefinite shelf life. As such they were highly sought after by older vampires, who wished to have a sort of fall-back emergency supply of sustenance. Though this was only the most basic of their uses. Alaric knew this much, but Thaumaturgy wasn't his particular cup of vitae. It was a sub-type of vampyric power that only specific clans pursued and even fewer mastered.

_Anastasians, Tokugawa _and the _Followers of Hades_ were the only three clans that came to mind when thinking about who Thaumaturgy naturally came to. Though the Followers of Hades favored the Powers of the Grave, specifically, necromancy and fleshcrafting more than any Powers of the Blood. Besides, the Hades cult often tried to avoid making a scene, subterfuge was their game.

The Anastasians however were a newer clan, hardly a century old - their Primogenitor, their founder, was none other than the last unliving child of the Romanov family Princess Anastasia, daughter of the Tsar. Their age, combined with their primogenitor's pacifist teachings, made them an unlikely suspect. Though rogue agents were always a possibility.

Finally, the Tokugawa Clan. Japan's shogun rulers through the ages. Power hungry, paranoid, idealists. That was a fairly apt three word - err, four word - description of them. They were ambitious, but they sought to control all of Japan and hated the idea of other Vampire clans interfering with their business, so what did they do? They ordered the country sealed off; no one would enter and no one would leave. It wasn't until a _Patriot _baron ordered an American expedition to Japan that the country was opened up, with a _Julii _supported rebellion to restore the emperor to the throne taking place not long after. In a way, the Tokugawa were right to be paranoid. The Tokugawa still held resentment towards the American born _Patriot _Vampires and the ancient roman _Julii_ clan of vampires. Though at the cost of a great many mortals. They were a very reasonable suspect. In the end, all this theorizing really didn't get Alaric any closer to the basic questions of; _How did this stone get here, why is it here _and _who brought it here_? It seemed that the good professor was of the same mind.

"Well if it's not a dragon scale, then what was it that was seen in the skies that night?" he asked. Alaric just shrugged in response. There was a long pause between the two. Though this was then broken by a question that just surfaced in the back of his mind.

"Oh, professor, if I may ask." Alaric started, raising his left hand, showing the back of it to Colbert. "You wouldn't happen to understand this rune would you? I get that it's a familiar thing, I'm not _that _daft, but I can't understand this for the life of me." Colbert adjusted his glasses and beckoned Alaric to step closer, motioning towards the table as he moved a candle from the counter to the table to give him some light. It was just a candle, but that little flame that flickered above the pillar of wax - being so close to it that he could feel the heat radiate from it - made the vampire in him quite nervous. Colbert furrowed his brow, leaning down closer to his hand, narrowing his eyes.

"It's… familiar, but I cannot quite place it." he started, "Most familiar runes are fairly straight forward and often come in common patterns. Yours however… it's quite peculiar. I did notice-" he was interrupted by a knock at the door, the teacher seemed almost instinctively to grab the bloodstone and chuck it into hiding within one of his drawers. "One moment!" he shouted, cupping his hand by his mouth, before finishing his statement. "I did notice something strange when you first arrived." which made Alaric's nerves shoot themselves again. He was pretty sure it didn't show, but he couldn't help but shake the feeling this man might have been catching onto him. He just had to play it cool for now, surely if whistles were blown, he could make it seem like _he _was the crazy one. Though that idea was soon torn in half as double the trouble soon emerged. "Come in!" and in stepped Louise.

The pink haired mage quickly looked around the room, before her eyes locked with his. It seemed like the color drained from her as she laid eyes on him. Alaric dipped his head, shutting his eyes. It was difficult to look at her, knowing what he'd done. He was probably the last person she wanted to see right now. "I… I'm sorry for freaking you out the other night." he stammered out, finally raising his head to look at her. The color slowly returned to her face as she released the door and stood upright, stepping inside the little shack.

_"Are you really apologizing for being yourself?!" _Alucard thought, _"After dragging your ass through the sun, leaving you starving for several hours and then having the bloody nerve to order you about like you're some kind of servant?! And you're just going to roll over?!" _he pursed his lips and folded his hands behind his back to mask his clenched fists as the annoyance within him welled up. _"I'm not going to hurt her, I'm not going to hurt her." _Alaric repeated to himself. _"Violence is the tool of barbarians and I am no barbarian."_ he reasoned, trying to calm himself down. _"At least tell her how you feel then, or are you too much of a piss-ant to even do that?" _Alucard shot back at himself.

As much as he tried to keep his cool, he let it slip, just a little. There was no effort to hide the venom in his voice when he tacked on; "But…" he started, shaking his head at her. "You _were _the one to summon me. Perhaps if you'd summoned a regular familiar, we wouldn't be in this mess." he softly jeered at her. Was he blaming her? Yes, yes he was. Alucard hadn't asked to be brought here, he wanted to go back to the mortal realm. There was still so much to be done there, so much he hadn't seen, so much time to be caught back up on and then _this _little _shit _had the audacity to summon him after getting all nice and cozy in his new setup. _Fuck _Louise, he thought. Then Mr. Colbert cleared his throat, causing Alucard to shift his vision towards the old man. He locked his jaw as the chrome-dome spoke.

"Alaric, I had noticed something strange when you first arrived, that's true. Bust as I said, I don't know the rune on your hand off the top of my head, I don't think I've ever seen it before - at least not first hand. I'll look into it and depending on my results, I'll get back to you." said the teacher, causing Alucard to raise a brow, he subtly grit his rear teeth. The old man knew more than he let on, he was sure of it. There was no way he was telling him everything. This suspicion came to light in a not-so-subtle manner.

"_Depending on the results?" _he asked, emphasizing the entire question. What were you so keen on hiding old man? Though the man would dodge the question, offering what Alucard saw as a bullshit excuse. Just smile and nod, he thought, just smile and nod. After being asked if he'd like a short essay on the mater, Alucard smirked and nodded back, emitting a single, humorless chuckle "I'd like that." he replied, before glancing back at Louise.

The two locked eyes for just a moment, it was long enough for Alaric to remind himself; _"You hurt her, you took advantage of her because you lost control. Even if you're incapable of feeling anything positive towards her, does that not at least worry you? What if that had happened back in the mortal realm? On the streets or in an alleyway? What if you'd actually killed her?" _and Alucard's eyes shifted away from her towards the floor.

It wasn't like he _wanted _to kill her, not right now anyways. Of course if she kept pushing him, he just might - if it wasn't for that damnable mortal conscious that kept rearing it's obnoxious, naive little head of his. He loathed that damn thing, one day - if he could help it - he'd be rid of it. Or at least find a way to ignore it. But as it stood, it did control him, just in a much more subtle fashion when compared to the monster. So when Louise ordered him to wait for her outside, he bit his tongue and obeyed, even though just the mere thought of being pushed around - by anyone - made him want to show them what he was really capable of. _"No, that would cause more trouble than it's worth." _Alaric reminded himself, but he just scoffed in the back of his mind as he exited the building.

_"What? Taking the easy route and just laying a bitch out? Please, you wouldn't have the spine to do it." _he continued, battling with himself. _"Humans - Mortals - are beneath me, beneath us as immortals. I could wring her neck and she'd be powerless to stop me." _

_"Yeah, but do you remember that there've been some pretty impressive mortals in the time we've been out? You enjoy the challenge, so need I remind you of a quote one of them said; __Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well." _his mind quieted for a moment before tacking on; _"Theodore Roosevelt." _

_"Oh fuck off." _Besides, there were more important things to worry about than inspirational quotes. Blood for instance.

Vampyric powers were fueled by blood, that could be in the form of a mortal's blood, godly ichor or a vampire's own vitae. Regardless, it demanded the life essence of the user. For a vampire, the _amount _of vitae within their body didn't mater as long as there was _some, _so unless he found himself on an empty tank, Alucard could stay upright and mobile, but the demand for blood would only grow stronger. No physical harm was inflicted on his body, in fact, losing blood was kind of a normal daily thing for vampires - just as mortals needed food, water and oxygen to power their bodies, vampires only needed blood; it was used from everything to waking up, walking around, using powers and healing themselves. The only way to ensure a zero blood consumption rate was to induce oneself into torpor, shutting off all bodily functions and mental faculties. To the uneducated, it appeared like death.

Alucard needed something before he found himself violently at the throat of one of the students. He slinked down against the shack wall, resting his arms atop his knees, looking around. It seemed that various servants were setting something up further down the field, he could see them rolling tables out and around the tower. Some had even gone so far as to set up poles which they hung bright sheets from, providing shade to those who would sit at the tables, though these areas were rather limited.

Then he heard a sound from above, to his right. He looked up and saw a bird at the top of the school's outer walls - a common cuckoo from the looks of it. He did a double take around the school yard, all the servants were busy setting up and the students were either in classes or following the servants to this little tea party area they were setting up - at least that's what he assumed it was, fuck if he knew. They were occupied. He looked back up to the wall, the bird perched on one of the parapets. He pushed himself back up and made his way to the base of the wall, "_just a quick snack", _he thought, _"Maybe it'll taste like chicken?" _

He raised a hand to his chin, examining the wall, yeah, he could probably make it. The bird wasn't facing him, so it would make things much easier. He tensed up his legs, taking a single step back and cocking them before with a bit of strengthened blood, leapt up to grasp the top of the wall - he hadn't entirely thought this through… he clenched his jaw and pursed his lips as his hands made contact with the sunlight that streamed over the wall. He resisted the urge to cry out in pain, this was only going to make things worse - why the hell was he doing this? _"Give. Bird." _Oh yeah that's why. He quietly attempted to traverse left, closer towards the bird - hadn't noticed him yet. He was just pulling himself up, reaching for it as the sun hit his now hooded face, causing him to wince in pain - almost… _almost… _

"Hey! What are you doing up there!?" someone screeched from behind, finally making Alucard yelp in surprise, causing the bird to fly away as he lost his grip, reaching for it - but to no avail. He flailed his arms as he fell several meters onto the grass below, landing on his back with a faint crack. _Ow_. He groaned in pain - both from his sun exposure and from the cracking of his back. Thankfully, no serious damage was inflicted from the fall, though he was sure that a mortal wouldn't have said the same from a spill like that. He watched dejectedly as the brown bird flew away into the blue sky, emitting a strained sigh as he flipped onto his stomach to look at she who was responsible for losing his snack. Louise simply stood there, expression cross as much as her arms were folded across her chest. "What were you doing with that bird?" Louise demanded.

Alucard emitted a loud, drawn out groan, rolling his eyes; "It should be pretty obvious, shouldn't it _princess_?" he offered, snidely, forcing himself to stand back to his feet, pushing himself off the ground. _"Easy there, tall, dark and edgy." _Alaric echoed in the back of his mind; _"Well thanks to this brat, I'm going to go who knows how long without anything to hold me over! What do you say about that?" _to which it was merely decided that they'd have to play it by ear. Good luck with that. Need Alucard remind himself what happened last time he was running on empty? Surely that would give his mortal conscious pause. Unfortunately this brief arrogant shot in the dark had quite the opposite effect as he was mentally sidelined.

Alaric lowered his gaze, "Sorry about that, I get a little irritable when I've not… uh, _fed _for a while." he explained, hoping she wouldn't roast his ass or something.

Louise sighed sharply, balling her fists up and planting them at her hips. "You're lucky I don't punish you for such a remark, but I'll let it slide this time." she exclaimed, shrill as ever, jabbing a finger at him. "Now then, we're going to head over to the other side of the tower where they're setting up the second year tea party and you will bring me some tea! Got it?"

Alaric nodded, giving a slight bow, which seemed to surprise Louise. "Of course my lady, thy wish is my command." he replied, getting a raised brow from Louise who for a moment seemed to think he was mocking her again. "I'm trying to add a bit of class, would you rather I not?" he could act the part of an aristocrat if he so desired.

"_AAAAHHHHRRRRGGG!" _Alucard screamed in his head, desperately trying to slap some sense into his more mortal counterpart. Alaric could virtually see Alucard grabbing the little mortal inside him and shaking him violently while screaming directly into his face. _"WHY. ARE. YOU. LIKE. THIIIIS!?" _well, partly to spite himself in a meta sense.

Louise's mouth slid open a bit as she held her response for a moment, seeming to search for the words. "Uh, no, no, it's just not what I expected from a commoner." she said, waving Alaric over as the two started to head towards the other side of the main tower. Alaric was forced to pull his hood low over his face as they entered the sun - he could feel the heat from it impacting his back and shoulders. It wasn't the slightest bit pleasant but for the time being, with fortified blood and heavy clothing, he could weather it long enough to cross the field. The shade below the tower would work wonderfully.

"Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but I've only been a _commoner _for a year." he said, shifting his head slightly so he could see Louise's face - thankfully this didn't require much exposure. She seemed confused. When she asked what he meant by that, he explained; "Well, before I woke up again in the modern era of my world, I was of European noble stock from what is now known as Romania."

"Romallia?" Louise asked, apparently she misheard him - or was playing word association.

"Row-main-ee-ah." Alaric sounded out, "But it wasn't called that back then, back then the region I'm from was called Wallachia, where my father ruled as Voivode, effectively a monarch in his own right at the time. So that technically makes me a prince, y'know." he didn't expect Louise to buy it, so he was a little surprised when she paused in the middle of the field, though he dared not turn around to face her, as doing so would also cause him to face the sun. He was relieved when she sped back up and caught up to him, passing him slightly before slowing back down. "Food for thoug-" he started, only to be cut off.

"Shut up!" Louise exclaimed back at him, sounding slightly frazzled. "You being a noble, that's not- I mean it can't be! The way you dress, the way you speak and- aaauuugrh!" yeah that was about the reaction he was waiting for. Oh well, can't fault him for trying. Besides, it's not like nobility of a realm they'd never heard of would carry any weight. He sighed lightly to himself as they finally passed under one of the protruding covered walkways that connected the middle tower to each pinnacle of the school's pentagon shaped exterior wall.

Thankfully, on the other side, the tower cast a fair bit of shade, with some of the nobles having moved their tables into it by means of magic or servants. Some however seemed more content with sitting out in the sun which was all well and good for _them_. Gods, Alaric really wished he had that onyx charm of his… especially now, since the sun would reach its peak soon and shade was going to be nigh impossible to find for a bit. "Now then, go get me tea!" Louise barked, before storming off - somewhere…

Alaric sighed, fine, sure, whatever. He looked around as she stormed off, where the hell would he find _that_? It's not like he knew his way around the place, really he wasn't entirely sure what Louise expected from him. "Go bring me _teeaaaa_." he quietly mocked under his breath in a very, very childlike tone, cocking his voice to sound like that of a prepubescent toddler with a smoking problem. He rolled his eyes. _Alright_. Tea. Where the _fuck_ were you? Even his mortal side could get a little fed up, but unlike the other one, he wasn't going to hurt anyone over it if he could help it. Maybe, mock them a little, take a few verbal jabs at them, but violence wasn't going to be his first answer to everything.

He started to roam the yard, or as much as he could without overly exposing himself to the sun. He'd just about given up after what felt like half an hour - Louise was probably going to be pissed if he took any longer, hell she was probably going to be pissed regardless. He groaned and shut his eyes, dipping his head, raising a hand to his forehead as he tried to think, what was he going to do next? Without any solution in mind, he raised his gaze again, only to be confronted by this weird, purple floating eye thing - an evil eye? Was that what they were called? Either way he was given a bit of a shock as it immediately presented itself before him, causing him to jump back with a short yelp.

Yes, he might be an immortal capable of withstanding punishment that no normal human had any excuse to survive and yes he could be damn scary himself at times, but even so, not even the mighty vampire was immune to a sudden jumpscare. He recoiled a few steps, putting some distance between himself and the weird eye, glaring back at it. He could play the staring game and he could play it well, but it wasn't to be so as he bumped into someone. At first he thought it was Louise, but when he turned around, he was surprised to find that it was someone else entirely. Someone he wasn't familiar with.

The black haired maid stumbled to the ground, dropping the small saucer she'd been carrying, adorned with cake. "Aaah, darn it." she muttered, kneeling down to pick it up. Alaric tensed up, damn it, it was like him to make someone else's day worse wasn't it? Time for damage control. He knelt down next to her and helped her collect her dropped goods.

"Sorry about that." he offered, handing her the piece of cake she'd dropped - it was rather firm for a piece of cake and surprisingly nothing stuck to it… uuuhh, magic? Sure.

"No, no, it's my fault." replied the girl as the two of them stood back up, with Alaric wiping his knees off. The girl eyed him over quickly; "Wait, forgive me for being so forward, but you wouldn't happen to be the one who was summoned by Miss Valliere and became her familiar would you?" asked the maid.

"Huh, I take it people have been talking about me then." Alaric concluded, with the maid nodding in reply, saying that he'd been the main talk of the school since it happened - at least among the servants.

"It's never happened before, a commoner being summoned as a familiar." she explained.

Alaric pursed his lips and hummed quietly to himself, _"Sure, commoner" _he thought, but shrugged it off. "Eh, I'm not going to pretend that I fully understand what it takes to be a noble around here." he replied, well other than wealth, power and status he guessed. But apparently, it ran a little deeper than that around here.

"Well, those who can use magic are nobility, aristocrats and the likes. Those who can't are the common folk - peasants, serfs, maybe a few merchants. But you need magic in order to be considered nobility at birth." the girl added, even though Alaric hadn't explicitly asked for such information. Though it would be good to have. It did make sense; _those with the power,_ after all. "Anyways, my name is Siesta and like you I'm also a commoner. I have the privilege and honor of serving the nobility here."

Alaric dipped his head respectfully. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance Siesta, I'm Alaric." he replied, "I'd shake your hand but they seem full." he tacked on, forcing a chipper, fangless grin to cross his lips. There was something familiar about this girl, he felt like he'd seen her face before yet he couldn't place it.

"Alaric? That's a nice name." Siesta commented and Alaric could feel his face flush a little bit. He grinned and nervously scratched behind his head, the compliment having caught him off guard. "Say, would you-" she started only to be interrupted by some snot-nosed looking pretty boy that without question looked like he thought he was better than everyone else… wait he may have just accidentally described himself, nix that. He was a handsome looking stud with amazing hair a humble attitude and was very obviously killer with the ladies. That's more like it. Except that his first assessment was probably closer to the truth;

"Are you going to bring me my cake?" the blonde haired pretty boy remarked, that tone of his lending aid to the snot-nosed conclusion of his character. Some giant brown mole thing lay on his lap. The boy sat at a table towards the edge of the shade, next to one of the covered paths that ran out from the middle of the schoolyard.

Alaric looked back at Siesta, taking a step to the side. "Sorry, don't let me get you in even more trouble."

"Ah! Right." Siesta exclaimed, rushing over to deliver the boy his cake, Alaric loosely trailed behind, only taking a few steps towards the table, hands clasped behind his back. Though he couldn't help but notice the, maybe not lecherous look that the boy gave her but more like a pervy, playboyish look. Alaric found this to be a bit confusing, there he was sitting across from a fair looking young blonde girl, yet he was bold enough to give such looks in front of her. He started to wonder if they were siblings, given they both had blindingly blonde hair, though that train of thought was quickly thrown down the drain as he overheard them getting all mushy with one another. Alaric unclasped his hands and crossed his arms, shifting his stance slightly as Siesta returned. He furrowed his brow and cocked his mouth, biting the corner of his lip, his expression becoming quite telling. "Is something wrong Mr. Alaric?" Siesta asked, which brought him back to reality swiftly as he tensed up.

He shook his hands at Siesta, as well as his head. "_Please _do not call me _mister_, that just sounds… wrong." at least in the context that she used it. It might have been fine in a formal setting, but this was anything but.

"Oh, alright. Then, is something the mater Alaric?" she repeated, cocking her head slightly.

Alaric shrugged back, cocking a brow and his head towards the blonde boy. "Who is that?" he asked, causing Siesta to glance back over her shoulder.

"Oh, that is Lord Guiche de Gramont." she replied, though Alaric waved her on - she didn't seem to understand what else he was asking however, so he just voiced it; _what was his deal_? "Oh, uh… I shouldn't talk poorly about a noble, but Lord Guiche is… well… he's something of a womanizer I guess. There's always rumors going around that he slinks off and cheats on his official girlfriend." Siesta explained. Alaric didn't like him already. On top of that, what kind of name was _Guiche_ anyways? For some reason when he heard that, all he could think of was _quiche_, though he wasn't about to stop there.

It was then that he noticed this Guiche character tense up, standing abruptly from his chair and taking the other blonde girl by the hand - the girl, whose name he'd overheard as Montmorency, was pulled to her feet. It sounded like he was trying to escape with her for… some reason. Alaric scanned the area, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary - that is until he laid eyes on a brown haired girl in a matching brown cloak. She seemed to be looking for someone. Alaric put two and two together, a mischievous smirk breaking out in the corner of his mouth. Now, while this Guiche fella wasn't the worst of the worst, teaching him a physically harmless lesson was well within the boundaries of Alaric's morals. "I'll be right back." he started, only adding on once Siesta asked him what he was doing that she should; "Kick back, relax and enjoy the fireworks."

He calmly approached the brown haired girl, clearing his throat, getting her attention. "You wouldn't be looking for a Lord Quiche, would you?" he asked… yes, he knew what he said. The girl cocked her head and asked if he meant _Guiche _to which Alaric simply shrugged, stating; "Possibly."

The girl nodded, admitting she was looking for the blonde haired prissy boy. Alaric jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, looking over at the slow moving blonde couple. Now, he could say he was a homewrecker, but he knew where that term came from - plus, the guy deserved this for his two-timing. He was just doing some good old community clean up. The girl thanked him before taking off towards Guiche. Again, Alaric followed loosely behind, checking over on Siesta as he passed, motioning for her to attend the shitshow.

The three began their fateful encounter just outside the shaded area that the tower provided, on the opposite side of the tea area. What unfolded was priceless. The three went back and forth for a while, each time one of the girls spoke, Souffle over there offered more and more bullshit answers and excuses. Some romantic shit here, some limey shit there, something about an _actual _souffle, Alaric was to busy snickering his ass off. One arm wrapped partially around his abdomen while the other held a hand up to his face, covering his mouth. He couldn't resist blowing a bit of pure oxygen onto the fire. Names had been thrown around so Alaric helped himself; "Hey, Katie, is that the guy you were looking for?" he asked, cupping his hand next to his mouth while he stood a ways back in the shade, having found a spot next to one of those thin decorative pylon shaped trees while he leaned against the tower wall. The girl didn't respond, rather Lord Muffin turned about and whipped his… flower wand at him?

"You! You're responsible for this!" he bellowed at him. The scene had begun to draw a crowd, with some of the surrounding nobles taking notice, many asking what was going on.

"On the contrary, Lord Cookie Jar, I just accelerated things. The only one really at fault here is you, with your apparent two-timing." Alaric replied, before the pastry prince could get a word in. He raised a foot and pressed it back against the wall he leaned on while crossing his arms over his chest. "And frankly, if I'm gonna be blunt; you should be ashamed of yourself." he added.

The two girls got up in his face, demanding to know if he was really two timing, but their actions and his response kinda spoke for itself. A moment later a loud snap echoed across the yard as the blonde haired girl with the ribbons and swirly pigtails slapped him across the face, knocking him to the ground - the two ladies storming away in opposite directions. The entire yard burst out laughing, one of the nobles, some jolly short kid declaring that he deserved what he got. Alaric himself was pleased, he'd shown what happens when you cheat like that while also providing wonderful entertainment for the crowd gathered. Two birds, one stone.

But the Lord of Loaves wasn't quite finished. He stood back up and again jabbed his rose wand at him. "It seems you do not know how to properly pay respect to nobility!" he declared, causing Alaric to snort and push off the wall, taking a few steps towards him. At first, non-threatening enough, though that slowly changed as he approached.

"No, on the contrary, I do know how to pay respect to nobility." he started as he closed in at a lazy walk's pace. "But here's the thing, in my books, respect is fucking earned, sure being nobility gets you a few points to start with, but a noble can just as easily blow those points as any peasant. So whether or not I respect you as a noble is moot… I simply don't respect you as a person, given what I've just witnessed." the yard of nobles erupted in jeers of _Oooooohhh, _like Alaric had just dropped a sick diss track. But he meant what he'd said and wasn't about to take it back.

"H-... how dare you!" Gouda exclaimed - Alaric was running out of pastries to call him, so why not cheese? Anything but Guiche, just to piss him off. The funny thing was, that he was wholeheartedly enjoying this. Alaric felt good about this, as he was calling out and publicly shaming a sleazebag of a guy. Alucard on the other hand was enjoying this because of how painfully aggravating he got to be, he could just tell how _pissed off _he was making this guy and it brought him endless amounts of joy. It was fun for all. Well, except Reggie Ricecake here. There we go! Get exotic with the names! "You dare insult my honor! And you have made two ladies cry!" The Count of Cheesecake added. Eh, that didn't roll of the tongue quite as much as Alaric would have liked.

"Dude, you're _fucking _delusional. They weren't crying, they were _pissed_!" Alaric replied, clearing his throat and quoting a ye' olden phrase. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

"And you continue to insult me! I will not stand idly by and allow myself, a noble, to be mocked by you, a lowly commoner!" Cream Puff Pants continued to cry. "I hereby challenge you to a duel!"

Alaric stopped just before entering the light that Sir Sourdough stood in. Alaric recrossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at him for a moment. Then burst out laughing. It took a moment for him to calm down, wiping a tear from his eye. "O-oh, you're serious?" he leaned into Gouche-berry (that's a thing right?) stopping just shy of his face, the light hitting the back of his head, but it was worth it just for this; "When… and where?" he muttered before recoiling back into the shade. For a moment Alaric thought he felt a hint of doubt emanate from Yee ol' Yule Log though this quickly blew over and he declared the location; an hour in the adjacent yard. Alaric didn't like the time, but if it meant putting this jerk in his place, then he'd weather it. He was fairly certain he'd only need like five minutes anyways. With all his fortifications, he should be able to deal with this poser well within the safe exposure zone.

The two departed and Alaric felt pretty good with himself, releasing a faint chuckle as he began to turn about, only to find Louise standing behind him, almost giving him a decent scare as he jumped a little bit, though emitted no noise. He stared down at her for a moment in awkward silence. Then finally; "Hey." he started.

"Don't _hey _me." Louise shot back, "I can't so much as send you to get me tea without you causing trouble!" there was another brief pause before Louise emitted a groan, waving her hand in the air above her head. "Whatever, go kick Guiche's butt."

Alaric was surprised, she condoned this? That was the last he expected from her. "Guiche is a jerk and needs to be put in his place, if that's done by someone he perceives as a commoner, all the better. And given what I've witnessed, I have full confidence in you to soundly thrash him. Just… y'know… don't kill him. You're still my familiar, anything you do reflects on me." and just for a moment, Louise spoke to him normally, like another person. If he ignored her comment about _what she'd witnessed _he could almost fool himself into believing she was just talking to another human. Then the real Louise reared her ugly head, just for a second; "Got that!?" she screeched, making him flinch.

He nodded, "Yeah, yeah." he replied, waving her down as he made his way towards the yard in question, flipping his hood up. "No promises though!" he added, rustling Louise's feathers some as she charged after him.

"Don't you da-" she started, though Alaric cut her off, rolling his eyes.

"I was kidding!" he shouted back, rounding the corner to see a crowd already gathered. Alaric narrowed his eyes, were people placing bets? It seemed that the _hour _that had been slated before the duel was cast aside as it seemed all participants were ready and those who wanted to watch were already present. Unfortunately for Alaric, this side of the tower was completely exposed to the sun. He made sure his hood was pulled low over his face, his fortified blood still holding strong.

Alaric knew how dangerous this actually was, but he didn't want to worry Louise, if their duel took longer than ten minutes, under his current effects, he'd be in serious trouble. Not to mention most of his powers would be nullified by the sun, not that he planed on using any of them anyways. His natural physical prowess would suffice, he was sure of it.

By their very nature, vampires are stronger than the average human - a vampire with the build of an average teenage boy or girl for example could both physically perform a grade higher than Olympic athletes. Their strength would be considered borderline hysterical and their stamina just as boundless. It wasn't nearly as strong as he could be if he pumped his muscles up with strengthened blood, but if he did that, he might just end up killing the poor boy.

Alaric groaned as he stepped out into the sunlight, keeping his hands tucked under his surcoat until he needed them - gloves would have been a godsend. "Alright Dough-boy, do your worst." Alaric taunted as he approached. The sun doing no wonders for him. The prissy blonde cast his wand out;

"I am Guiche de Gramont, otherwise known as Guiche the Bronze, my element is earth! As such-" he flicked his wrist and a pedal fell from his wand, spawning a green metal woman of what looked like copper from the ground where it landed. "A bronze golem will be your opponent."

Typical noble, having someone - or rather something else - fight his battles for him. He'd make quick work of this metal entity. But for as much pain as he was in right now, he couldn't hold back another quip; "Hey, dumb-ass, if it's green that means it's copper. So shouldn't you be Guiche-bag the Copper?" which elicited the response that Alaric had been going for.

Gouch-bag flicked his wand forward, "Go!" he ordered the green woman who, brandishing a long lance, charged straight at Alaric. He deftly sidestepped the lunge, grasping the lance the golem wielded before running his hands up it and wedging his elbow between it and the golem's underarm and _tore _away at it, using its own momentum against it as he pivoted a full hundred-eighty degrees sending the golem rolling past him. The inertia exhibited by the force the golem accelerated at was also enough to allow Alaric to tear the lance from the golem. Metal creaked and tore as the golem's arm came free, metal crunched and cracked as the husk collapsed to the ground motionless.

Alaric turned back around, holding the lance like it was nothing. He gave it a once over, he wasn't much of a lance guy, but it would do. The observers seemed utterly shocked that he'd done such a thing. Some of the girls clasped their hands and swooned, including one darker skinned red head in the back that Alaric thought stood out like a sore thumb, but that's besides the point. Some of the guys cheered or booed, it didn't matter their positions. Neither the girls for that matter, it wasn't like he was intentionally trying to show off. Well, maybe a little.

Guiche-bag seemed flustered by this as he flailed his arms, casting additional pedals to the ground, summoning up another half-dozen golems. "Okay… that's just desperate." Alaric muttered under his breath, flipping the lance around so the weightier end of it was the end he'd be swinging around, turning the lance into a makeshift club, gasping the end with both hands. Without hesitation, he swung his new mace across the golems, wiping two of them out with one swing before the other four could even begin their advance. Alaric had fought animated armor before, this wasn't his first throw down with such entities. Most of the time they only posed a minor nuisance for one such as him - though the larger fellas could be a little threatening.

He cast the mace to the ground, he was just going to go in and end this, duking it out in the sun was great and all, but really - it wasn't. Alaric rushed forward, ducking and weaving past the lances that were thrust his way with ease and grace before reaching the final one. He twisted narrowly out of the way of the armor's lance at full sprint, starting to put into motion a bit of a flip as he leapt over the armor, grasping it by the head before landing on the opposite side of it. He gave a quick jerk of his shoulder as he landed tearing the armor's head off before continuing his dash towards Guiche-bag whereupon reaching him he tackled him to the ground, one hand gripping his neck while the other slammed the armor's head down next to his face, embedding it in the dirt with a loud thump. He pulled Guiche-bag up closer to his face by the neck, leaning next to his ear "Learned your lesson?" he muttered, then released him back to the ground.

Guiche-bag bumped his head as he fell back to the dirt, groaning at first but then quickly holding up a hand, "Y-yes! I surrender!" he conceded.

"Good." Alaric finished, starting to walk off without so much as another word - the observers however let themselves be heard as a chorus of cheers and jeers passed through them, it was impossible to tell just how many were impressed and how many were offended. He didn't care, he just wanted out of the sun and a damn opportunity to feed, spending that time and energy in the sun had further drained him and if not sated soon he might just lash out at someone. He didn't want that. He pushed through the ring of spectators, finding shade under a covered walkway. He pondered a possibility. The place served meals, which meant they had a cellar. _"Oh you can't be thinking of stooping so low." _Alucard thought, but what choice did he have? _"What am I, a Hapsburg?" _No, no he wasn't last he checked he wasn't a Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

As he turned to enter the central tower however, he heard footsteps behind him. Glared over his shoulder at an approaching Louise. "That was… pretty impressive." she admitted and for a moment, Alucard's irritability dissipated and he cracked a smug grin.

"Yeah, what can I say? I'm pretty awesome." he replied, though given he was talking to Louise, he should have foreseen what such a response would elicit.

"Pfft!" Louise scoffed, her softer demeanor regressing into that of the typical arrogant noble. She slotted her hands at her hips and proclaimed; "Just because you beat Guiche, doesn't mean you're above me, keep that in mind! You're still my familiar!"

Alucard rolled his eyes, waving her off with a; "Yeah, yeah." and continued down the walkway towards the central tower. The footsteps followed and Alucard spun around, locking eyes with Louise as he jabbed a finger at her and _accidentally _letting one of his shadow powers slip; specifically one of the _Dominate _sub-tree. He grimly ordered; "Don't follow me!" he yelled, commandingly at her - he could see the faint glow of his eyes on his extended arm as the order was given and Louise tensed up, backing away slowly. She bobbed her head up and down rapidly.

"Y-yes! Of course!" she replied, trembling. Though he could see that she was having trouble comprehending what had just happened through her terror. He knew she _wanted _to give him lip, but her mind just hadn't been ready for that kind of assertion of mental power. She was forced to obey, hopefully after he left it would stick with her. At the very least it would keep her from following for a while, but that was all the time he needed. In the long term, whether or not she obeyed was determined upon several other factors; willpower, mental fortitude, resolve and whatever else have you along those lines.

Leaving Louise behind, he pressed inside the central tower. Navigating his way through the halls to find the kitchen. He passed through the main hall and dining hall before finding it. A few of the cooks were busy making pastries and the likes, while the rest were still cleaning up after today's breakfast. That really said something, given it had been hours since. One of the cooks, the head chef from the looks of it, turned his head to look at the newcomer. "Ah, what are you looking for sir?" he asked.

_Sir?_ Alucard wondered… must have been the surcoat, though not that he was complaining. "Nothing, just looking for the cellar, my lady wishes a drink." he offered, hoping that would buy him access.

"Ah, just towards the back of the kitchen, be careful down there, it's dark and uh… try not to trip on anything." he replied, sounding a mix of nervous and embarrassed when he spoke. Alucard wondered why, but it meant he may have been on the right track. He nodded back and thanked the chef, making his way to the rear of the kitchen, locating the cellar door and prying it open before descending. Once at the bottom of the stairs, before doing anything else, he shut his eyes and listened.

_Squeak, squeak - _squeaked the little rats that scurried around down here. That was all the confirmation he needed, for if he devoted any more blood to the fueling of his powers he'd be at his wits end without something to sate himself. His eyes gained their signature red glow, though this time it was significantly more prolonged, shining through his living facade as he was now able to see through the darkness. He took a few steps further into the cellar, wine barrels of various sort lining the room on their stands. Bushels of tea leaves stuffed into bags were kept here as well, nestled into the corners and between the wine racks. Even though this place was of the utmost nobility and purely for the aristocracy, even they weren't immune to a little rat infestation, magic be damned.

Then, as he snuck across the stone floor of the cellar, movement caught his eye and he lunged, wrapping a hand around a fat black rodent. He held it up, it squirming in his grasp, there was no escape for it. He felt a little sick with himself, he _was not _looking forward to this. He wished plugging his nose and holding his breath was an option - akin to when mortals did such a thing to down food without tasting it, but unfortunately, he was not so fortunate. Steeling himself he held the rat up and bit down onto it, crushing it between his jaws, killing it instantly. The crack of its bones was satisfying, he'd give the little rodent that, but the taste…

Alucard took a long tug from the rat, draining it in one gulp before casting the shriveled up desiccated rodent aside like a crushed up juice box with a light _thwap_ against one of the barrels. He raised a closed fist to his mouth as he tensed up, trying not to throw up, that would have defeated the purpose of coming down here - if not made things worse. Thankfully he managed to keep it down. "Guuuhh…" he groaned lowering his hand and massaging his throat. He'd have preferred the doe from the other night. At least then he could pretend it was venison - sure it was a bit gamey, but at least the doe didn't taste like old feet. He dreaded the thought of downing another one, since one rat was just simply _not _going to be enough.

Alucard looked around for additional rats, spotting one near a sack of tea leaves. He was about to attack when he heard footsteps creaking down the cellar stairs and he froze, turning his back to the stairs as someone lit a candle behind him, casting light through the cellar. With the light, his little hunt was put on hold and he dimmed his eyes back to their normal mortal blue before wiping his mouth - just in case.

"Y'know, it's awful hard to see without light." commented a sultry feminine voice. Alucard turned around to see the buxom, dark skinned red head that he'd seen above ground during his duel with Guiche-bag. He had to think fast.

"I didn't see the lantern there actually." he replied, eyeing the woman up and down. She didn't try to hide her charms, that was for sure, the way she bore her top heavy cleavage like that. _"Now that's someone I wouldn't mind-" _he started to think, only for his thoughts to pull a sharp U-turn. _"-No! No, no, no! No! Stop that, get some fucking help!" _but Alucard shoved that interjecting thought back into the depths of his mind; _fine _he wouldn't pull any tricks. But the question remained, why was she down here? He asked this.

"Well, I just wished to speak with you." said the woman as she started to approach, holding the lantern up, but setting it down atop a barrel as she reached him. Good, he knew it was a small fire, but even so, he didn't like it. "Or, rather, I wished to confront you." she added, causing Alucard to raise a brow, confused; "My name is Kirche von Zerbst, otherwise known as Kirche the Ardent and you my darling are the flame I've found myself drawn to." she said, the seductive tone in her voice not lost on him.

"Is that so…?" Alucard muttered in reply, getting a bit of an idea… it was one that morally he was sure he'd hate, but if it meant not draining another rat, well… "Come here then, Kirche the Ardent. Come and tell me what has you so drawn to I." he asked, his tone changing to lay on the charm as he spoke with a voice that almost mirrored her own in terms of passion. _"Dude, please, don't fucking do this - Shut up, would you rather down another damn rat? - Well, no, but - then it's settled!" _he shut the naive mortal up for good this time, as much as he tried to behave, there were times he was forced to cut corners and break his stupid self-imposed rules. But at least he could convince himself that it was more-or-less fine, since she was pretty much giving herself up of her own accord. Sure, she may not understand what she was getting herself into, but he'd be sure to cause no permanent harm.

Kirche smiled and took another step forward raising her hands to rest atop his shoulders. "Well, for starters, the way you beat Guiche back there… that was amazing. I like fierce, fighting men…" she cooed, leaning into him. "And how kind of you to slink away from the light of the others, to a more… secluded area." she continued. Then a worrying thought caught him.

He had no idea if this realm had a supernatural presence, specifically, he wasn't sure if there was a supernatural underworld here; demons, werewolves, fae folk, vampires, zombies, mythological beings and all that. He didn't feel anything off about Kirche, but the way she was so aggressively coming onto him, made him remember one of his first encounters with his equally busty and red-haired friend, Chelsea. The succubus. Now, he could resist the charms of a succubus for a while, just as they could resist a vampire's domination for about as long, so for now, there was really only one way to find out for sure.

"This is nice and all my lady, but I'm not sure you could handle me." he stated, leaning into her in kind, his forehead dangerously close to her's. Kirche wrapped her arms around Alucard's back and pulled herself into him, pressing her chest up against him. Alucard refrained from emitting a chuckle of amusement. A small part of him enjoyed this little game they were playing, just enough to keep his current facade from giving in to his more timid persona who slunk back as far as he could as if trying to stay as far away from this woman as he could. Conflicting morals and desires swirled in his head, but ultimately he accepted what had to be done, even if in the end, he didn't feel good about himself for doing so.

"I like a man that's difficult to get. Targets that are the most elusive turn me on the most." Kirche whispered back as she drew her head back and the two stared at each other for a bit. Alucard made certain he wasn't using any powers to manipulate her mind - this was _all _on her. So when Kirche swooped back in he just let it happen as she pressed her lips up against his. The trap was sprung - metaphorically and literally.

Alucard ran a hand from her waist up to her back while the other latched around the back of her head, pulling her into him. Even before giving her the _proper _kiss, she pressed her knee up into his groin. This one was _really _going at it wasn't she? That little voice in his head just kept shaking its head, insisting that this was wrong, so, so wrong. Alucard didn't care at the moment however as he broke from her lips for a moment, looking back into her glistening, fervent eyes of passion before leaning back in, starting his descent, trailing gentle kissed down her chin and neck. He felt her shiver as he planted the last of these pecks on the middle of her neck.

Then at last, he bared his fangs and sank them into Kirche's neck, her entire body bucked and quivered. He could feel her legs threatening to give out as she tightened her grasp on him for support. For her, he gave her one of the more passionate kisses - as there were several types; aggravated, passionate, soothing and bestial. Each _kiss _conveyed certain pheromones with it allowing for easier feeding depending on the situation they were used in. For example, the aggravated kiss he'd given Louise when first arriving, caused her body to ripple primarily with terror, though pleasure and serenity were also applied to force the victim to adopt a more relaxed state, yet even so, fear would be dominant as they knew they were going to die in pleasured bliss. This was one of the bites used during a fight, though Bestial bites were more common - bites that omitted the pleasure and serenity for pure terror.

A Passionate kiss however resulted in little to no terror pheromones being released, rather it focused entirely on pleasure and serenity. This was often the bite used when interacting in a social setting - with the Soothing bite being used when the vampire wanted to be less intimate with their victim, though regardless, a consensual, willing, knowing victim who presented their necks was always considered intimate.

He felt Kirche press her knee further into him, tightly hugging him as she quietly moaned in his ear. She continued to pull herself deeper into his embrace. To her she'd simply have felt a playful nibble at her neck while being struck with these arousing, pleasurable pheromones that his bite gave her.

To him, however, the moment he drew blood he himself was caught. Based on taste alone, he could tell that his fears were unfounded, she wasn't a succubus. That said, the quality he was getting was… _pretty good_. To say the least. He was enjoying it personally. Her blood was sweet like a sugary treat and he found the taste to be a far cry from the wretched old feet of the rat. In the back of his mind he had to remind himself to pay attention to her pulse and reactions - he didn't want a repeat of Louise. But at the same time he wasn't sure when he'd get another chance like this and he wanted to savor it. He'd take enough to quell his thirst, though not fully sate it, he worried that doing so would be too greedy. Even so, he found himself fighting the urge to bite harder down onto her neck, the blood that flowed into his mouth exciting and even arousing himself. _"Keep a clear mind." _he reminded himself, withdrawing his fangs and _affectionately _licking her neck where he'd bitten her, lapping the wound closed.

As he pulled away from her he wiped his mouth, tentatively glancing at her face. "Oooh darling that was… amazing…" she swooned, seemingly only slightly out of it. She was none the wiser it seemed. It seemed there was nothing to worry about, she hadn't clued in, he'd managed to refrain from over doing it and no, she wasn't going to turn into a vampire because of his bite. C'mon, if that were the case, the world would have been overrun centuries ago.

Hardly a few moments had passed with the two of them staring at each other before Alaric came back to his senses. Kirche's desires for him only seemed to have grown after his bite and he leaned back away from her slightly, now wanting to escape this awkward scene he'd put himself in. _"Oh of course you leave me in this kind of situation, you damn jerk!" _he thought, knowing full well that while he had the potential to be something of a ladies man, Alaric himself was not. He admittedly felt disgusted with himself for taking advantage of her like that, but… well, it wasn't like he'd actually gone so far as to… y'know… _take advantage of her_. He would never allow himself to do that, regardless of his mental state, the thought of someone, anyone doing something like _that _enraged even his calmer, more soft-spoken mortal facade to the point that not even the monster would attempt something that repulsive.

But as for this situation… well, he found himself saved by the most unlikely - and perhaps the most undesirable - of individuals.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" Louise screamed from the other end of the cellar, having just stormed down the stairs.

Alaric flinched away from Kirche and stood next to her as he freed himself from her grasp. "Louise! Hey! Uh-" _shit _he had no idea how to cover for himself here. "It's a bit of a story." he offered, to no avail.

Louise stormed forward, the lantern that Kirche had lit providing enough light for her to find her way. She aggressively grabbed him by the collar and hauled him down to her level. "We're getting out of here! Got that!?" she ordered, shooting a pissed off glare Kirche's way before looking back at him with a look just as peeved.

Alaric's voice went up an octave; "Yeah! Got it!" he yelped as he was then tugged along behind Louise. Thankfully, now at least satisfied and no longer on the verge of _dehydration_, the more sinister voice in his head was quiet, content to let Alaric be. She lugged him up back towards the main hall, then out into the covered walkway that lead towards one of the perimeter towers.

"What were you doing with Kirche back there!?" she demanded once outside. Alaric did his best to hush her, waving his hands in a downwards fashion, trying to get it through her surprisingly thick skull to keep it down.

"Look." he whispered, "I haven't gotten the chance to have a proper drink in a while… and Kirche… well, kinda offered herself up." he explained, fully expecting this to just make Louise's temper flare, well, he was right in some capacity.

"You what?!" she exclaimed, tensing up immediately after. Louise looked over either of her shoulders, checking to see if anyone was present - they were alone. She lowered her voice and repeated herself; "You _what_? Don't you know what you've done?" she asked, sounding a mix of angry and worried.

With voice lowered, Alaric leaning in and replied; "Yeah, I do, I needed a drink so I managed to get one where I could, I'm not happy about it either alright, but would you rather I go a day without feeding at all? Remember how that worked out last time?" he jabbed back at her in hushed words.

Louise flinched, recalling the other evening. "Y-yeah but… I was able to get an antidote, Kirche doesn't even know what happened to her does she?"

Alaric raised a brow, well, no, she didn't… that was the idea. But it wasn't like she was in any danger because of it. Contrary to popular belief, vampires actually _didn't _carry deadly diseases around with them, infecting people with their bites. In fact, shockingly, vampires had some of the cleanest and healthiest mouths of all living creatures, err, _unliving, _but you get the point. Their saliva worked almost like a disinfectant and could even work to seal recent bite marks on mortals. If they went around spreading disease, then vampires would end up killing off their own livestock - at least that was how the vampires of old saw it. That being said, oral hygiene for a vampire was virtually a non-issue. Thank god, Satan, Thor's or whoever's flaming asscrack for that, brushing his fangs would be unpleasant at best. "Louise, she's in no danger. And for the record, she approached me. I was content with rats, but then she showed up." which was also a lie, he was _not _content with those rats.

"But won't she… you know, turn into one?" Louise asked, ensuring her voice was kept down, pausing to peek around one of the walkway pillars. Alaric's jaw slid open slightly as he realized, at last, what she was raving about.

"No, she won't, think about it Louise, if that was the case, then we'd end up turning everyone into them and then where would we feed?" he offered in reply. He wasn't sure where she'd gotten that idea from. But… maybe that was how the vampires of this world operated, as he now felt safe in assuming there were any.

However it was also around this point, funnily enough just _after _feeding, that he felt like he could finally get some sleep, maybe wait the rest of the day out. Then he could do some night time hunting for a bit before morning inevitably came and he _inevitably _was forced to daywalk again without his damn charm. Of course he'd feel tired now, lazy bastard - he felt a slight bit of shame creep into himself as he sighed quietly. "Alright, now if that's it, I need to rest. The day has been eating at me and frankly I just want out of this blasted sun." he proclaimed, again, still at a whisper.

He started to walk past Louise, only for her to clap him on the shoulder, stopping him. "Hold up. Turn around." she ordered, causing Alaric to repeat his previous sigh, but he complied. Louise eyed him up, furrowing her brow. "You definitely don't look the part of a noble's bodyguard." she mused, "We're going into town tomorrow, I want you spruced up and looking your finest, got that?"

Both Alaric's brow shot up, "Wait what?" he asked, not sure he heard her correctly. She was going to buy him stuff? He was already asleep and dreaming, he had to be. But no, he'd heard her correctly.

"You heard me. So…" she paused eyes darting to the side, "Rest up. Okay?" she said, going from uptight and abrasive to surprisingly calm and collected. But it was Louise and already Alaric knew that where one side of the coin showed, the other was soon to follow - it reminded him of someone actually, totally not himself, okay? "And stay away from Kirche! I'm going to talk to Mr. Colbert again!" she bellowed before shooing him off. Alaric nodded back;

"Right!" he exclaimed, flipping his hood up and running across the field towards Louise's tower, finally at last being able to relax once inside. Well sort of, he climbed the tower and entered Louise's room where he found the window open, which nearly blinded him upon entering. "Gah!" he yelped, shielding his eyes as he darted to the side of the room, sidling around the edge of the sunlight to reach the window, which he promptly shut, drawing the curtains closed. Good enough.

Now sated he was less worried about utilizing his powers as he stepped into Louise's closet and shut the doors, _perfect_. With a puff of mist he swapped into his bat form, flying up and latching onto the same hook he'd used the first night. He wobbled upside down for a moment before finally coming to a rest. He emitted a strained yawn, which came out as a long high pitched squeak before finally shutting his eyes and getting some much needed sleep. Yes, even the undead have to just kick back and shut their eyes for a while. It wasn't really a bad thing though in Alaric's mind. Sure it could be inconvenient at times, even annoying - according to say, Zombies who really _didn't _sleep. But it was enough to remind Alaric - and in turn _Alucard_ \- that even though he was a scary immortal blood sucker, that he and those frail mortals Alucard loved to rail on still had several things in common.

He only hoped that tomorrow's town crossing could be made in the early morning or dusk, an hour in the sun would be quite lethal.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter! As I said, it's the longest one I've put to Fanfiction yet!**

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**Till next chapter!**

**(I've no idea if it will be as long as this one)**

**BULLETIN: I've no idea if I'll get another chapter **_ready_** by the end of the week, so stay tuned. I'm going to be moving by the end of the week and if I haven't posted by then, it may be another two weeks before I can get anything posted since I'll be separated from my computer.**


	4. The Spirit of Tarbes

Louise had stayed up the remainder of the day. After sending her familiar off to get some rest, she began to worry. The longer he spent in the sun, the more irritable and grim he seemed to become. She could deduce why, she doubted the sun was very friendly to him. So with the plan she'd set in motion, a plan of mixed manipulations; bribery, coercion and intimidation, she might make a suitable familiar out of him yet. But first, she needed a way to make him weather the daylight better.

Her original plan of pure intimidation and threats - she decided - was bound to backfire and get her killed. It's not like she could just proclaim she was going to blow the whistle and then _not _expect to get her throat slit one night. She read books. She knew what happened to snitches.

She took off for Mr. Colbert's lab again, dashing across the field as the sun began to start its descent from above. She knocked on the door upon reaching it; "Mr. Colbert! Are you there?" she asked, giving him a moment - he was, and gave her the go ahead to enter.

She passed through the door, seeing her teacher across the wooden table, hard at work, studying it seemed. "What is it Miss Valliere? Has something come up already?" Louise shook her head once the professor shifted his gaze from his work and over his shoulder at her.

"No, nothing so dire. But I've begun to put into motion a plan to tame him." she paused, that sounded a little strange, but it's what she was trying to do, no need to sugar coat it.

Mr. Colbet set his work down, turning around fully to face her, taking a step forward, resting his hands atop the central table. "Well then, by all means." he replied, both ears open.

Louise nodded, producing the book that he'd given her earlier that day. While waiting for her familiar to come back with her tea, she'd taken the time to skim through it. The book contained all that was known about Brimiric Era vampires, though judging from the physical descriptions - there were no full body pictures of them - it sounded like the Brimiric Vampires and Other-World Vampires had some significant differences.

One such difference was their fangs for example - the Brimiric Vampires had rows of razor sharp teeth, like a shark, while Other-World Vampires as she'd seen only had four sharp fang like canines.

Still, this book was all they had to go on. While it might not have been the most accurate material in relation to her familiar, it was _something_. "I've been reading a few sections about vampires and their banes. Fire, sunlight, stakes." Louise started, flipping the book open to the appropriate page, setting it down on the table.

"One of those got me thinking. My familiar is reluctant to stay with me for long periods of time because of the sun. Every chance he gets he goes off to hide in the shade, even if I don't want to go that way. In order for me to keep an eye on him, I was wondering if it's possible to create some kind of sun-resisting elixir." it was a shot in the dark, Louise didn't know if such a thing was possible. The idea had merely occurred to her.

Mr. Colbert held a hand to his chin, "Well, it may be possible. So long as it is in liquid form, your vampire familiar should be able to keep matter down. So… yes, I think I may know the reagents we can use. It'll require a touch of magic of course… as well as a bit of blood. One of the reagents, you see." he explained, turning about and leaning down, digging through his alchemical supplies.

"Do you think you could have it ready by tomorrow morning?" Louise asked, "I… I think I…" she trailed off. Louise held out and looked down at her hands. They weren't as clammy as they'd been prior, yes she still felt a bit wobbly when she stood or sat up too quickly but as of now she felt generally well enough to provide perhaps a few teaspoons.

Mr. Colbert emerged from under his counter holding an empty flask, various herbs and a small bottle stand. He walked over towards his central table, setting the stand down while moving a solid stone slab underneath it. He then raised his staff and set a magical flame at the bast of the stand, under the flask he lowered onto it. "I should be able to whip up a small batch by this evening. It'll take a few hours to prepare but once everything is ready I'll have it mixed shortly thereafter."

"Thank you teacher." Louise replied, giving a slight bow of her head. "I might be able to bribe him with these."

Mr. Colbert looked up from his alchemy set as Louise finished, raising a brow; "That _might _work." he mused in response to her plan.

Louise shrugged, nothing was certain at this point, all she could do was take shots into the dark and hope something hit. She was gambling, almost blind, the best she could do was hedge her bets a little.

"Now then." Mr. Colbert started, sinking a bushel of strange purple stems into one of the beakers. He rummaged through his drawers, pulling out a small, sheathed knife and roll of bandages. Louise tensed up… she wasn't sure she'd be able to go through with this if she had to slash her own hand. But to her surprise…

Mr. Colbert held his hand over the beaker, drawing the knife out of its sheath before grasping the blade and slashing his own palm, letting about a tablespoon of blood drip down into the container. Once he had donated the required amount of blood, he raised his staff with his free hand and cast a very concentrated, localized burn onto his palm, clenching his jaw as he cauterized his wound shut. He then applied first aid to the burned area.

Louise was stunned, her teacher was willing to do this for her? She suddenly felt pangs of guilt, knowing that she should have been the one to do it, yet she'd kept her mouth shut as he did the hard part for her. On the other hand, she was also rather impressed, it was quite remarkable what Mr. Colbert had just done, without so much as a shed tear. To endure the pain of a slash and burn like that.

"Alright, now we just let the ingredients boil for a bit, I'll come check on them before the day ends." Mr. Colbert informed her.

Louise nodded, "Thank you again teacher. Had I known you were going to…" she trailed off, partially due to the words escaping her, partially because her teacher shushed her.

"It's quite alright Miss Valliere, I wouldn't want my students coming to harm because of my actions. Indirectly or directly." he replied with a reassuring smile. Louise bit her lower lip. That may have been, but it didn't make Louise feel any less guilty.

But for the time being, Louise left it there, uneager to continue this conversation due to several pervasive factors. She still had some time before sunset. With one final _thank you _she departed, bowing before leaving.

With all said and done, what the hell was she to do for the rest of the day. The other second years were out and about, bonding with their familiars - her's had gone to sleep. What was she to do? What was she to do?

In short; nothing. The rest of the day lazily dragged itself by with little in the ways of eventful happenings. The sun beat down, birds chirped, the servants served. By the time the day ended, Louise felt like it had been several with how slow it had gone by - she _wished _she had classes so that she wasn't so utterly bored.

She began to walk back up to her room as the sun began to set, reaching her room soon after. She entered without so much as a word. Tired, bored and just eager for the next day already.

Louise quickly looked around her room, again, just like last time, no sign of her familiar. He didn't sneak out again did he? She checked under her bed, in her vanity, drawers and wardrobe before finally closet. She jumped a foot back as a black flying rodent of fair size suddenly unlatched from one of her empty hooks as the light struck it. Falling with a _thump _to the floor before suddenly poofing into a humanoid form with a puff of black mist and an accompanying groan of; "Ow!"

Like the other night, his hair was a silvery white, his skin was a grey ashy complexion and his eyes were blood red as he looked up at her, his legs vertically upright against the closet wall, feet in the air. He didn't look to be in a very comfortable position there, laying on the floor with half his body trying to crawl up the wall.

Then in a silly, sort of goofy sounding voice as his windpipe as at a crooked angle, he honked out; "This isn't as comfortable as it looks." sounding almost like he had a stuffed up nose. Finally however, he pushed himself away from the wall as Louise yelped and scampered out of the way as he came crashing down onto her floor, laying there on his belly for a moment.

Louise stood there motionless for a while, wondering what to do as he just awkwardly lay on her floor. Then she realized, the sun was still leaking into her window. There wasn't at a direct angle where light could enter her room straight away, but it was still fairly bright in there. She leapt onto and rolled over her bed, reaching her windows only to quickly shut the curtains before looking over her shoulder nervously at her sprawled out familiar.

Eventually, he sat up. Rubbing his eyes, he still looked relatively tired - or that was just how he naturally looked what with his unnatural ashen complexion. Her blood ran cold as he stretched his arms out and emitted a long drawn out yawn, getting a full maw shot of his fangs. Her eyes widened for a moment - they were _twice _the size of a normal human's incisor, reminding her of wolf fangs - albeit thinner.

He did eventually cover his mouth as he yawned, but it had been a little too late. When he looked back down, rolling his neck, he cast a glance to Louise who's expression was still petrified. When he was in his mortal guise, he looked fine - Louise might have even said he looked particularly attractive, though never aloud - but like _this_? She was scared out of her mind! It was the eyes, it was totally the eyes! And the fangs! Can't forget about those!

It was hard to believe those razor sharp fangs of his had been embedded in her throat and she _hadn't _died.

"Evening." he finally said, starting to help himself to his feet. He covered up another yawn. "What time is it?"

Louise was silent a moment longer. Her familiar, didn't ask again. He simply stared at her until she finally came back to reality. She shook her head roughly. "Uh, you had it the first time, early evening." Louise looked over her shoulder and she could see the faint outline of the orange sunset being cast faintly across the opposite horizon through her curtains. A beautiful melding of deep, dark blue and the bright orange sunset slowly fading away. She wondered if getting heavier, black curtains would be a worthwhile investment.

But then she felt something snap. The day had been _so _boring. It was strange, she wanted nothing to do with her familiar on a personal level - he was but a servant after all - yet she still inexplicably felt herself attracted to him. She was _sure _that he had done something to her. Him not being by her side during the day pissed her off. He was her familiar, keeping her entertained was also part of the job description, at least then she'd have had someone to talk to! And that run in with Kirche!

She couldn't just let him think he was off the leash for that! Her face contorted and her familiar seemed to clue in on this as his eyes widened and he held his hands up as if to shield himself as she began to lay into him. "Don't think I've forgotten what happened with Kirche! I saw what you were doing, it was more than just _what you had to do_. You were enjoying _her_, like a damn dog in heat!" she squealed, jabbing a finger at him.

"R-r-r-rubbing up against her like that! I saw! From now on you are forbidden from doing _that _to Kirche! I don't care where else you get it, but not her!" she yelped.

Her familiar flinched and froze up for a moment, his red eyes darting to the corner. "Uhhh… O-okay?" he replied, his confusion not lost on Louise as he furrowed his brow and his jaw lingered open. Louise tried to ignore the barely visible fangs she could see just past his lips.

"The Valliere and Zerbst families are long time rivals! You may look elsewhere for _that_, but not from Kirche!" Louise explained, repeating her prior demand as well.

Her familiar sighed lightly and shook his head, dipping it as he did so. "I can't make that promise Louise." he said quietly, the amount of pain in his voice when he said that going straight over Louise's heated head.

"Y-y-you're my familiar! How dare you disobey!" she exclaimed, pulling her wand out to punish him for talking back - Louise the Noble was in full control here, despite Louise the Zero's futile attempts to get herself to stop, urging her that she was asking for trouble… she should have listened.

The moment she raised her wand above her head, there was a noticeable shift in her familiar's eyes as his red human eyes warped and narrowed into more bestial, narrow red, catlike eyes. She tensed up as he bared his fangs and lashed out - not biting her but grabbing her arm and twisting it to the point of almost breaking it.

Louise cried out in pain, shedding tears as her arm twisted, dropping her wand to the wooden floor with a light clatter. But the pain only lasted a few seconds as she soon found herself quickly released. She fell to her knees, massaging her sore elbow while trying to keep straight her wrist. He'd twisted or sprained it, the pain in her wrist wasn't going away quite so soon.

Louise found herself trembling again… but she forced herself to look over her shoulders. She expected to find her familiar up in her face, but no.

Alaric, her familiar, was at the far end of her room, looking shamefully at the floor - trying to get as much distance between himself and her as possible. He looked up, remorsefully at her and they locked eyes. "Louise, I…" he started, taking a gentle step back towards her. Louise, flinched in terror.

He held his hands out towards her, palms open. "I… I'm sorry." he quietly uttered, gently approaching her. He began to kneel down as he reached her. Gently resting an arm on her trembling shoulder as she looked back at him through her pink locks. "I don't want to hurt you Louise. Please, believe me, I truly do not wish you any harm." he shut his eyes, sighing lightly to himself.

He stood back up, helping her to her feet, or rather that's what Louise thought he was doing, but he went a little further, hoisting her up into his arms to carry her. She felt her face flush a little, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. He set her down on her bed, on the side facing the window.

As she was being set down, she noticed his skin gain a pale, creamy complexion, like someone had just hosed him down. When she looked at his face, he again had black hair. She caught his visage just in time to see his red eyes shift in hue, losing their intimidating, fear inducing red glow and adopting a more serene, peaceful blue. But immediately after he'd adopted this new color scheme, his eyes flared red again, just for a brief moment and Louise tensed up… but they returned to their blue only a few seconds later.

Her familiar turned his back to her and opened the curtains, she guessed by now it was dark enough that he wasn't pained by what little natural light snuck into her room still. He turned back around, leaning on the window sill, looking back at her as Louise shifted to lay on her side to face him. He then repeated himself; "I don't want to hurt you."

Louise shifted her gaze from him to the floor… so he said, but his actions spoke for himself. "Liar." she quietly muttered, pathetically. Her dejected tone only made her self-pity all the more noticeable.

At first he didn't respond, there was a tense quiet for nearly a minute before he finally replied; "Yeah, I am…" he muttered, though he hardly sounded proud about it. "If you threaten me with physical violence; slaps, punches or even bullets, that much I know, and _it _knows it can handle. But Louise, when you raise your hand to threaten me with magic, that _thing _will not sit idly by when it feels so threatened."

Louise didn't understand, what was _it_? What was this _thing_ that he spoke of? Louise buried her face into her pillow, she didn't want to hear it. He was just making excuses for himself.

"_Louise, hear him out." _she thought, the Zero trying to reason with her Aristocratic side. _"You need to remember, he's not human." _which really wasn't a helpful thought right now. _"He's trying to talk to you, have a moment would you?" _but Louise wasn't having it. She felt her pillow dampen with the tears that seeped out of her eyes, refusing to stop.

A long sigh escaped her familiar's lips, "But as much as I'd like to ignore it, I cannot. To live a life wholeheartedly pretending you are human when deep within the remnants of your soul you know you are not. You know you're a monster, god knows you're a monster and anyone who learned what you truly are, deems you a monster. To live that kind of life… it's just asking for trouble. I know I'm not perfect… I know I'm never going to be this… _vampire saint_, where I can live my unlife without harming a soul." her familiar continued…

"And even though I don't have full control over what this _monster _does, it lashes out when hungry or threatened and I do all I can to keep it contained. Even though I know there's moments where I just… let it slip." there was another brief silence, only punctuated by her familiar emitting a shaky, quiet laugh to himself: "I act human, behave human, look human… but I'm _not_." he muttered, sounding more like he was talking to himself in that one statement.

"Faith, friends, family and morals. These touchstones and convictions, that which guides our beliefs and determines what tenants we hold value in help shape the kind of creature we want to be, but they do nothing to change the creature we are. And that beast will remind us. Oh will it ever. But many of us do not uphold these values because we wish to control ourselves, many still truly do believe in such qualities of virtue, honor and loyalty. Because we believe it to be right." he finished, still holding a soft yet strained tone. "It's… in a metaphysical sense, what _makes _us human."

Damn him, saying all this emotional crap, what point was he trying to make. Then she just said it; "What's your point?" she whimpered. For a moment she worried, maybe she shouldn't have said that. He was sure to get angry at her brushing him off.

His voice, however, remained calm and steady, "The point I'm trying to make Louise, is that I really never would wish you physical harm. I may yell, I may bluster and threaten, but unless you push me like that. I will not harm you. Until such a time as I find myself no longer present, I too will ensure no harm comes to you in turn.

Louise, at last ceased her crying, pulling her head from her dampened pillow, turning her head to look fully at him. His forehead was pressed against his arms, folded across his knees. "A-Alaric?" she muttered.

He looked up from his knees, gaze turning towards her. "Yes?" he asked, softly, the top of his head illuminated by the twilight.

She tried to fight it, or at least Louise the Aristocrat did, but her Zero was getting the better of her in this one particular moment; "I'm sorry…" she muttered, almost a whisper as she found even those two words difficult to utter. She hoped he heard her as she didn't think she could bring herself to repeat it.

Alaric simply stared back at her, then he nodded. "It's… alright." he replied, though she could hear the insecurity in his voice. It wasn't alright. He knew it, Louise could feel it - so why were they deceiving themselves? Regardless, Louise herself feigned understanding of these intentions, nodding along side him.

"I… I understand." she meekly replied, pulling a pillow down from her headboard and wrapping her arms around it as she timidly snuggled into it. She longed for a regular familiar… but this- he, is what she was stuck with now. There was no changing that.

And so just for that moment, all thoughts of punishment, labor and other familiar duties that Louise could have shoved onto him were replaced with one simple question; _How is this going to play out?_

It was the question of the century, wasn't it? So many firsts were happening just this week alone.

A shadow was cast across her room as her familiar stood back up, blocking out what little twilight entered her room. He stepped towards her and gently placed a hand atop her head, looking down at her. He knelt down to eye level. He was forcing a smile, she could tell. "So long as things don't escalate to the point of throwing fire and frost at one another… this won't happen again. Got it?"

Louise nodded. But she couldn't use fire, then again, it wasn't like he'd actually seen her trying to cast any real magic since she'd summoned him… was it in her best interest to keep him in the dark like that? She was sure it would come to light eventually anyways, so where was the harm in pretending she was more powerful than she really was? Just to make herself feel a bit more important for a while longer. "I understand." she whispered back.

"Good." Alaric replied, just as softly with an apologetic smile. "I'm gonna head out for a bit, alright? I'll be back before morning though." he removed his hand from the top of her head and looked back out the window. He cocked his lips and shook his head, starting to walk around the foot of her bed towards the door.

Louise couldn't complain, not after everything that had happened. She just wanted this little scene to end before one of them broke down again. The conflicting feelings that welled up inside her screamed for attention. She _wanted _to talk, but just couldn't. She knew what she wanted to say, but didn't want to say it. She knew how she felt and it was a _mess_.

She felt like a ball of yarn that a kitten had played too long and too fierce with, all mangled up and twisted to the point that sorting everything out was going to take all night. It was enough to force Louise the Aristocrat to shut up for the night. The way he acted so sweetly and gentle in one moment and then suddenly was threatening to choke her out or snap her arm.

She couldn't find the will to say anything as he left, curling up and hugging her pillow tightly. She buried her face into her pillow for a few seconds, then finally, she knew what she had to say; "Alaric-" she started, turning around to face him as he left her room, only to see the door snap shut, he was already gone. Louise faltered… "-I won't… do it again…" she muttered quietly… to no one in particular.

* * *

There had still been too many people about outside for him to just jump down from Louise's room. A young man falling from five stories and not breaking anything? Yeah, that was going to raise some brows. In truth, he was glad to be out of Louise's room. Getting all emotional like that, it felt weird.

It wasn't like he was unfamiliar with putting on such a display. After all, his mother - rest her immortal soul - was the one that had primarily raised him and she was one of the things that had kept him so grounded for a good couple centuries. Of course his father helped.

_But hold on._ Some might think, _if vampires are undead, doesn't that mean they can't reproduce? _Well… yes and no. It was a complicated process and quite frankly, if normal mortal reproduction stuck the main burden on women, then… well, it was both _worse _and _better _as immortals. Let's just say it was half-the-hassle to just turn someone into a vampire.

See, vampires that are _born _are few and far between, though vampires would couple with one another in order to grant their biological offspring a lower generation - or higher, depending on the situation - as vampire offspring would lose and/or gain generations based on the lower generation parent. For example a High Blood, Generation 8 vampire producing a child with a Noble Blood, Generation 4 vampire would create a Noble Blood, Generation 6 vampire. Of course if there was only one generation difference, then the child would be the generation of the higher parent.

This was how Alaric himself was the only Royal Blood, Generation 1 vampire in existence, as far as he knew. His father, a 1st Gen and mother, a 2nd Gen.

But to boil it all down, yes, vampires can have regular offspring so long as specific conditions are met. Thankfully carry times are halved, but the female vampire in question must maintain a flush of life for the entire duration or miscarry. She would then have to provide her child with blood for the next five years until their fangs came in, as vampires physically matured twice as fast as human mortals, stopping between fifteen and twenty - at which point a vampire could manipulate their appearance through thaumaturgy or fleshcrafting if they had the knowhow.

So in a way, it was both more and _less _work. Depending on how you look at it. That being said, mental maturity came about _much _slower. Again, most vampires just forgoed the whole reproducing _naturally_ thing and just turned others into vampires. Much easier and you only had to look after them for a few months instead of ten years.

Of course, vampires and mortals could also… copulate. The result being a Dhampir - half mortal, half vampire. There were a surprising amount of them back in the mortal realm, yet most of them typically were never aware of their immortal heritage. They aged slower, grinding to a near standstill around thirty. Though not immortal like their vampire parents, they could live for centuries before finally biting it. The funny thing - well more like horribly morbid - was that once the immortal blood had passed through a mortal, it in part was there forever. Their children and their children's children and so on, would have that lingering corruption within them. Just waiting for some kind of stimulation to awaken it.

Be they in the form of Ghouls, Revenants or Dhampir, they too would have access to vampiric powers at some point in their lives, if they found a way to awaken their immortal blood.

Alaric shook his head, still thinking about his younger years. Back when his father hadn't gone full dark-side and had been somewhat of a decent person.

He smiled softly as he slowly descended the tower stairs, remembering the good, heartwarming times that he'd spent with his family for the first few centuries of his unlife. But of course, immortal or not, nothing lasts forever. After his mother's _final death_, his father slowly changed, warping into this malevolent man that the world would remember as Dracula.

Of course, he never forgot his mother, nor her teachings. What few friends he'd managed to hold onto till the 15th century had helped as well, but for the most part they too were gone. As far as he knew, he was the only one of them to make it into the 21st century… or at least make it into the 21st century and _still _be alive.

The faces of those he'd been torn from flashed in his mind as he zoned out, auto-walking down the stairs without direction; Marzia Medici, former fiance then dear friend. He had no idea what became of her… Kruella Tepes, his dear half-sister. The last he saw of her was after he'd thrown her from his father's throne room after they'd been pitted against one another, right before his father put him down for those five hundred years.

And then lastly… the blonde haired, red eyed face of his best friend, William Longwood… born 1278, embraced 1296, dust by 2015…

Alaric tore his mind from his memoriam, a vivid image of the final moment with a dear friend flashing before him before he ran off, distracting the great demon that had served as his jailor, giving Alaric and the mortals he'd promised to protect their way out.

Alaric opened his eyes again and saw himself at the bottom of the stairs, staring out of the open double door at the bottom, across the darkening grass field of the school yard. He felt like he'd reached the bottom of the tower faster than he should have at his pace and furrowed his brow.

But a memoriam will do that, pull you from the present to relive one's past, be that for better or worse. He shook his head, no, he wasn't alone. He had new friends, back in the moral realm; Nathan, Chelsea, Jenny, Eos, Gina, Richard, Yeng-Fen… surely they were looking for him. Surely. It had been a few days since he'd been sucked into this strange realm, they had to have noticed something. Had to.

Alaric found himself emitting a slight chuckle to himself, yeah, he was sure that of all people, Nathan's father would be the first to notice after Alaric hadn't shown up for work for the past few days.

"_Alright… I know you miss the big city and all that. But there's nothing you can do right now." _Alucard thought, having one of his more surreal, calmer moments. If Alucard was showing up that meant he was starting to get hungry. But at least for now, he was being civil.

Alaric found himself staring down at the grass field as he exited the tower, clasping his hands behind his back. He emitted a drawn out sigh. _"If I miss it, you miss it." _he thought. The fact there was only silence from his more vampyric side meant he was correct in his assessment. The whole _Alucard-Alaric _song and dance was a complicated mess that not even he understood. It was strange, it had never been an issue before he woke up in 2015. Of course, if he believed the stories; stories that claimed he woke up briefly in 1812, he figured something must have happened then.

Unfortunately, Alaric had no recollection of that lost time. It was said that he'd woken up and slain his father once and for all, sealing him away… somewhere. The story had become legend by 2015, the details embellished or downplayed with little accurate history remaining. Either way, whatever happened back then wasn't of concern to him, hadn't been for the last year, wasn't going to be any time soon.

That Wallachian pocket realm, that dark haunted forest and sinister castle, the realm without a single living soul in it anymore, could rot in hell for all he cared.

As he scanned the field, he noticed that the servant staff was busy packing and cleaning up the day's tea setup. _"Go on, see if you can… y'know, get a sip." _Alucard thought, coaxing himself into finding himself some victi- pre- donor… for his needs.

Alaric furrowed his brow and lightly scoffed at the thought. He wasn't some alleycat who played bruiser to get what he needed. But there was no harm in scoping the area out. Sliding his hands into his pockets he made his way across the field.

Almost everything had been packed up by this point, with only a few tables left out and a single keg of what Alaric guessed was some kind of wine. Were they even allowed to drink here? Was there a minimum age? He guessed it probably didn't matter.

Only a few of the servants were out, most of which appeared to be of the _maid _variety, in their signature outfits. One of which Alaric actually recognized. He approached her as she pulled the top of a table off its base and pulled it up onto its side, intending to roll it back home. "Hey, Siesta." he started. He still found her name to a little odd, but it at least sounded more appropriate than _Guiche_.

The short haired maid flinched, fumbling with the table top, _almost _dropping it as Alaric swiped his hand in to catch it before it clattered to the ground. He raised it back up, allowing Siesta to get a grip on it again as she removed one of her hands from her chest - it seemed he'd nearly given her a heart-attack.

Siesta canted her head back to look over her shoulder at him; "Ah, Sir Alaric, what are you doing out here?" she asked. _Sir_. He didn't mind that nearly as much as _mister_.

It was a basic question, deemed worthy of just as simple an answer; "Couldn't sleep." he replied, before looking around the work site, he pursed his lips as another pair of maids passed them, folding up another pair of tables, the last of them, and taking them away. They left the keg behind however, and it was the last of the items yet to be packed up. "Need a hand?" he asked.

Siesta looked him over with a surprised expression. "Really? You'd-" she started, just for Alaric to walk past her and bend down to pick up the wine keg, hoisting it over his shoulder, steadying it with both hands. Her stunned expression held when he turned around to look at her. "W-woah."

"Yes. Also, what?" he asked, it wasn't particularly heavy - though that just might have been him. He could feel the liquid sloshing around inside the barrel which had been nicely corked back up; no danger of spilling here.

"I'm just… impressed, I guess. Though I should say, that's nothing compared to when you took on Guiche earlier." Siesta replied, seeming awed by his strength. "You really gave the other servants and I a real shock when you defeated him so soundly."

Alaric raised a brow as he re-approached Siesta, who held the tabletop upright with one hand, while clasping her free one over her chest. Whatever did she mean by that? She then went into greater detail; "A commoner, even if you are an upper-class one, defeating a noble without magic! It was very inspiring."

Alaric felt his face flush a little, good thing it was getting dark so she couldn't see it. He released a hand from the keg, managing to keep it steady with just one. He scratched behind his head, grinning sheepishly. "Heh, thanks. I just… well, guys like him are scum - not the worst humanity has to offer, I'll give him _that _much - but…" he trailed off, shaking his head slightly. It just baffled him that humanity often ignored their own inner monsters among them.

Mind you, Sir Souffle wasn't the worst of the worst, Alaric had seen worse, even just the day before when he encountered Jessica… but he wasn't going to dwell on that. "So, where's this go?" he asked, even though he had a sneaking suspicion where, hoping he could use it as a ticket back in.

"That'll go in the kitchen cellar." Siesta replied, maneuvering around her upright tabletop, reaching down to pick up the table stand and tucking it under her arm. "Are you sure you're alright with this? Helping with this that is, do you know where the cellar even is?"

Alaric nodded, "Yep. It's fine. Besides, I got used to this sort of thing back where I came from." he replied, adding a warm, friendly chuckle at the end; "Believe it or not, I worked at a pub and inn before coming here."

"Really?" Siesta asked, rolling the table top along as the two of them headed towards the servant's entrance. "What was it like back there? Where you came from that is."

Alaric gave a bit of a shrug, "Well, not entirely unlike this place I guess, at least it used to be similar." he tensed up a moment, still walking forward at a decent pace to keep up with Siesta, but his gaze fixated straight ahead as he remembered to be careful with his words; "Ah, but the time period I've grown up in is nothing like this world." he then mentally facepalm.

"_Nice job numbnuts, keep one secret just to pop another. How you survived a year in the modern world is beyond me" _Alucard muttered in the back of his head.

"Another world? Huh…" Siesta mused, it wasn't the reaction that Alaric had expected. Suffice to say it caused a raised brow. "Interesting. Y'know there's an old family story of mine that says we're descended from people who came from another realm as well…" she admitted. "My great, great, great grandfather was said to have been from another world. To hear my mother tell it, she'd claim he was nobility back in his world, but I doubt that…" she continued and for a moment Alaric wondered what could make her doubt that, then he remembered what she followed with; "If he was a noble, I'd have magic after all, right?"

Right. But that wasn't exactly how it worked back in the mortal realm, magic didn't make one a noble, if anything magic made you shunned and feared. At least back in the olden days what with witch hunts and _sacrilegious _magics. These days it was more accepted and witches, mages and other mortal magic users lived among mortals daily lives, out in the open.

"Y'know, I wouldn't mind talking to her if that's alright." Alaric stated. Perhaps someone in Siesta's family would have information about how to possibly get home? If he could speak to her, or perhaps one of Siesta's grandparents…

Siesta dipped her head, forcing a pathetic but well meaning huff, "Well, unfortunately my mother passed away when I was ten." Siesta replied and Alaric found himself apologetically lowering his gaze.

"Oh… I… I'm sorry." he said, he knew what it was like to return home one day to find a parent missing from his life. "Is your father still…?" he started, being interrupted by a nod from Siesta.

"Yeah, he's still around." she replied, but kept her response short and concise. Alaric could hear the tone in her voice, she wanted the topic to change.

"Right… well, that's good." Alaric stated, just as short. He tried to think of where else to take the conversation; "Well, now that I've answered where I'm from, what about you?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm from a small village called Tarbes. It's a small farming community, but there is an old manor overlooking the place where our local lord resides, up in the mountains overlooking the village. Funny thing is, there's no way to get up there unless you've a gryphon or something of the sort. _Nobles only_ I guess." said Siesta.

Alaric rolled his eyes at the final statement of _nobles only, _of course they'd be like that. "Ain't feudalism a bitch?" he muttered quietly.

There was an awkward silence as they entered the central tower kitchen, with Siesta rolling the tabletop away into a small nook in the back of the kitchen where the rest of the tables had been folded away.

Alaric on the other hand made his way towards the cellar, only to be stopped by the head chef. "Well, well, if it isn't the fist of the common man! Nice job kicking that snot-nosed noble's ass!" he cheered, getting Alaric to flush again. He wasn't used to all the praise. At least not from random people he hardly knew.

"And would you look at that, after everything that's been done, you go out of your way to help Siesta and the girls. Say what you will, but that's true nobility there." he seemed to be going a little ham in Alaric's opinion.

He smiled and nodded back, giving a slight wave with a clenched jaw, eager to get out of here. He descended back into the cellar, finding an empty rack to slot the keg in.

Some of the lanterns down here had been lit and from what Alaric could see, it was void of rats. Expected, as they'd probably be scared off by the light. Besides, it's not like grabbing one and popping it open like a cold one was going to be an option as Siesta soon followed him down.

"_Now's your chance!" _Alucard thought. "_No, no, no. I'm not doing that again. If you were driving, then sure, but not me, no sir." _Alaric retorted. He wasn't going to use this secluded area to again take advantage of someone. _"Pfft, take advantage of, is such a barbaric way of looking at it. More like… utilizing the opportunity they present you with." _Alaric rolled his eyes to himself, _"That's a wordy way of putting it…" _he thought before trailing off and turning about to face Siesta.

"That all?" he asked, with Siesta giving a sweet smiling nod.

"Yes. Though if you don't mind, I would like it if we could talk more." she said.

Alaric was tempted to put his hood up and hide his face; Kirche had been one thing, blatantly coming onto him as she did with little regard for personal space. Siesta however… was _she _also coming onto him? Just in a more… subtle fashion? No, no he was overthinking it. She was just being friendly, right? Yeah, he was sure of it. _"C'mon, you're not that good looking." _he thought, delivering an intentional self-blow to his ego. _"Oh bullshit, you know I am!" _ It was only semi-effective.

Ultimately he concluded that there was no point in staying down here. "Sure, should we head back outside then?" he asked, pointing back up towards the cellar stairs, getting a not from Siesta. With that, he followed her back up outside, giving another semi-meek wave to the head chef - who he learned was named Martaeu - before scampering back outside along with Siesta.

The two emerged back outside into the darkening evening, the sun had finally fully vanished from the dark sky above, leaving only the two moons and stars to decorate the black canvas above them. The two found a spot to hide out, leaning against the central tower, across from one of the five perimeter towers. "So, any particular reason you wished to prolong our encounter?" Alaric asked, his voice taking on a slight, playfully teasing tone.

He swore he saw Siesta blush as she turned her head away from him. "Well…" she started and for a moment he was worried that he had been right. He wasn't looking for form a damn harem. His other half may have been just peachy with that, but this side of him, nu-uh, no. He didn't need _more _sexual tension. He got enough with just Chelsea and Jenny being around back in the mortal realm.

"...I just wanted to say thank you." Siesta finally finished, slowly turning her gaze back towards him.

"Thank me?" he muttered, meeting Siesta's eyes with his. He tilted his head slightly, his expression puzzled. "Didn't you already thank me?" for carrying the keg back to the cellar that was, he wasn't sure what else there was to thank him for, once was enough.

"Well, yes, but more specifically you see; you're brave to the point of being foolhardy, you never take nonsense from those above you and you're willing to help those below, even though you yourself are so much more. It's inspiring. It's inspiring to me and the others, so see someone like you among us. It's given me the will to keep on keeping on so to speak. I wanted to thank you for giving me that extra glimmer of hope." she said, all the while maintaining her cute, happy expression, her face slightly red.

Alaric turned his gaze from her as she spoke, trying to avoid letting her see how red his own face had gotten. "T-think nothing of it!" he chirped, voice raising an octave as he tried to clear his mind. Even his other half couldn't come up with a smug-ass quip or remark. _"And that's why we like being the good guys every now and then, right?" _Alaric thought, trying to coax something out of his more Vampyric side… "_S-shut up you! Getting praise from some regular mortal… it means nothing to me! Nothing." _Alucard echoed, though given how he'd heard it, Alaric didn't buy it.

He found himself staring off at the top of the tower across from them. Staring at the silhouette of the tower's spire atop it, anything to keep his mind distracted and from over analyzing what Siesta was saying lest he find himself regressing into a babbling idiot again. Wait… did the spire just move?

Alaric narrowed his eyes, then he remembered; the outer towers didn't have spires. He was sure of it, that shadow on top of it was moving. It was a person. At least he thought it was, the way it started hunching down. Was it looking at them or just scanning the area? It was looking at them, Alaric was sure of it - his immortal blood, flushed with mortal life, ran cold. What… or who was that?

"Sir Alaric?" Siesta said off to his left, causing him to quickly glance at her for all of a moment before looking back to the top of the tower… "What are you looking at?" she asked. It was gone.

Alaric clenched his jaw and lowered his gaze. So much for a relaxing night. "Nothing Siesta. Nothing." but it _wasn't _nothing. _Something _had been up on that rooftop. "But I'm going to try to get some more sleep. Perhaps I'll see you in the morning?" he asked. He was surprised when Siesta slipped a hand into his. For a moment she stared back at him, her eyes connecting with his.

"I'd like that… just before…" she trailed off, her eyes disconnecting from his and darting to the ground behind him. "Well, it would make my day." she finished, this time Alaric was unable to hide his face and out came the stammering idiot.

"W-well, I'd hate to-... to disappoint." he replied, his eyes also detaching from her and darting in the opposite direction. "G-g'night Siesta."

The maid gave him a weak nod, "Yes, good night Sir Alaric." she said before releasing his hand and departing.

"_Talk about jumping the gun." _Alaric thought, though developing such quick relationships and bonds wasn't entirely unfounded. Life expectancy and all that was shorter back in the day, perhaps this world has similar issues and long term courtships weren't always expected. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about all this. He pursed his lips and watched as Siesta left. "_Still, she seems rather sweet."_

"_Hey, mind back in the game, wake up." _snapped Alucard, causing him to shake his head. _"I've got some investigating to do." _Alaric didn't like where this was headed, but he did want answers. That being said, he knew exactly where he wanted to start his search and he didn't like it.

Alucard turned around and made for Mr. Colbert's lab. There was something he wanted another look at. His mortal side quietly denounced the idea of breaking into the place, but he wasn't being nearly loud enough to deter him. As he approached, he saw a faint orange light flickering from out of one of the high windows that lined the shack, mostly for ventilation purposes. It was open, however he didn't hear any movement from within. Was nobody home? How to go about checking?

Well, he knocked… and waited. He knocked again. Still no response. Alucard smirked, it seemed he was in the clear. _"Wait, what about traps?" _Alaric thought, and he almost snapped his fingers. Right, didn't want to trip an alarm or anything. Magic after all.

It's not like he had any inherent way of detecting magic, not without expertise in thaumaturgy. But perhaps _eyes of the predator _would help? His eyes gained their signature red glow as his vision became washed out with a red hue. Right now he didn't dare do a shoulder check, lest someone in the field - or that thing atop the tower - spot the glow of his eyes, but from the looks of it he confirmed; not a soul inside and no apparent traps.

Under normal circumstances, _Eyes of the Predator _would allow him to spot the living through solid matter… sort of, it was a power that allowed him to track down prey based on their heartbeats and quantity or quality of their blood. Each humor and resonance showing up slightly differently. He rid himself of the supernatural glow of his eyes, reverting them back to their flushed blue.

Alucard nervously grasped the door handle and pushed forward, the door slowly creaking open, causing the vampire to wince. What was he doing, nobody was in there. He relented and just opened the door without a care for stealth before finally entering, shutting the door behind him.

Once secure inside, he looked across the lab. There was something boiling away in the middle of the room within an alchemy set. A magical fire gently wafted up against the base of the beaker, turning whatever was once in it into a dark red, almost maroon sludge. Whatever it was, it smelled surprisingly good to him. He shook his head, he wasn't here for alchemy, well, not _that _kind of alchemy.

He moved over towards the opposite side of the room, searching through the drawers of countertops until at least, he found what he was looking for. He reached down into one of the drawers, pulling out that ominously glowing red crystal. The bloodstone.

The list of possibilities he had with this stone was near endless. Even just for a split second, the thought of keeping it entered his mind, but he knew what kind of road that would lead him down. No, he just needed to borrow it for a bit. The stone itself might hold clues as to finding out where it came from. The stones held the very life essence of one sacrificed to make it, as such it could feed a vampire without ever spoiling. But that was just the most basic of uses. Powering enchantments and rituals, the stone could be used for all manner of magics and not just Vampyric, making the stones treasured - albeit controversially - amongst mortal mages.

However, vampires that fed off the stones would often glimpse the final moments of the one whose life had created the stone. For some this was a fair trade off to their use, for others, it was enough to make them reconsider their use. Those who didn't want to witness the death of the soul that had their life taken from them, just to make this stone.

Alucard wrapped both hands around the stone and held it close, he raised it to his face and took a huge deep breath, absorbing what essence he could from the stone. It wasn't nearly as _pleasurable _as feeding, in fact, he got no rush from it at all, but he did feel his desire for blood diminish. He just hoped he was graced with a glimpse of the past.

Sure enough, his vision flashed with a hazy image of the night sky… seeing through the eyes of… _someone_. He didn't know if it was a man or woman - didn't matter. They were running through the woods, jumping over and sliding under fallen branches and logs. Something was chasing them. Alucard figured it was the vampire that created the stone that was after this individual, but then he heard the cawing of crows or ravens...

He heard a rustle behind him as the vision looked over the person's shoulder to see a flock of ravens zip past the escapee. Each of them crowing in what sounded like anger as they nipped at the person's arms and shoulders as they whipped past them.

He thought he heard a muffled _leave me alone _from the runner, followed by pained panting as they exited the woods atop a hill. Looking down below, a sleepy farming village, overlooked by a mansion on a tall mountainside, surrounded by similarly dark looking forests. The person in the vision breathed a sigh of relief… they took one step down the hill and stopped. Alaric wasn't sure what had happened until the vision held their hands up, covered in blood.

The vision shifted down, towards the ground to see a set of about four sharp claws sprouting from the now apparent man's chest. They appeared more like branches… they were made from wood it seemed. Alucard then had to keep himself from involuntarily ending the vision as the apparent rootlike claws began to wriggle and wrap around the man, spreading out from within his abdomen, tearing him open as gore began dripping out of the man's open stomach cavity.

The man screamed an unheard scream as the wooden claws fully wrapped around his head, encasing him in a barklike cocoon. Then just as soon as he'd bore witness to this horrific scene, Alucard felt the man being cast to the ground, everything black, the last he heard was the braying of what sounded like an elk.

Alucard then heard faint footsteps cracking across grass and his vision shot back to the present. That had been real. Someone was outside. Alaric quickly stuck the stone back in the drawer, only slightly dimmer than it had been before. Then he heard a hand grasp the handle, he had moments to react as the door opened and Alucard dissolved into a black mist, wafting up through the open ventilation window and reforming outside as he materialized on the other side of the wall… the door snapping shut just as he reformed.

Alucard waited… he heard faint hums and hmms from within, but no sign that he'd been detected.

For a moment Alucard went back to the drawing board, what was it had had seen in that vision? A mansion on a mountainside, overlooking a small, sleepy farming village… it sounded familia- oh god. Wasn't that how Siesta described Tarbes, her home village? What lurked within the forests around her home? The creature that had made that stone? That had killed that man?

Alucard found himself… worried. Not for a mortal, of course not, he'd never stoop so low as to care what happened to a mortal - well except for maybe one, but she wasn't here. He needed to know, he needed to investigate further. He actually found himself wishing Nathaniel was here, vampire or not, Alucard wished someone was around to watch his back.

But damn it, if only he'd asked Siesta where Tarbes was, perhaps he could head over and check the place out. Wait, of course! Without so much as knocking Alucard slammed the door to the lab open, giving Mr. Colbert the scare of his life as he nearly jumped so high he hit his head on the ceiling with an exclamation of "BRIMIR!" before clasping a hand over his likely racing heart.

The two locked eyes and Mr. Colbert didn't look the least bit impressed, he was about to open his mouth to scold Alucard, of which he'd have none of. But before he could get a word in edgewise, Alucard beat him to it; "So… where's Tarbes?"

* * *

The day long trip to Tarbes took merely a couple hours as Alucard flew through the night sky in bat form - hey, some bats could fly surprisingly fast upwards of a hundred and fifty kilometers an hour. Now while he wasn't _that _fast, not without some form of _celerity _that is, he could hit about a hundred. That said the two hour trip had been quite dull, at least up until the last leg of it when passing over the forest around Tarbes.

"Whoooo" something cawed and Alucard flew a quick three-sixty trying to find out where it had come from… "WHOOO!" it echoed again through the night… what the hell was- a shadow passed over him and he saw it.

"OH FUCK!" Alucard made to scream, but instead all that came out was "Squeeee!" as he dove out of the way of an attacking Owl that thought to make a morsel out of this little bat. "Squeee! Squeee!" which translated was; "GO AWAY I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING BREAKFAST!"

He dove again, closer to the woods as the owl took another pass at him. _"Alright, fine, you wanna play ball, let's fucking play asshole." _Alucard huffed, gathering speed as he dove, pulling up at the last second above the trees to soar up into the night sky with the owl hot on his tail. Once he had reached a point where his momentum and height were deemed acceptable, he morphed back into human form mid-air. He pivoted in the air and slammed his foot in the pursuing owl, sending it careening to the ground. "HAH!" he jeered, then realized… "Oh shit…" as he began to plumet after the unconcious or dead owl. "Oh shit!"

He was falling a little faster than he'd anticipated. Branches snapped and cracked as he fell through the trees, landing with a thump on the forest floor. "Ugh…" he groaned and attempted to sit up, checking himself over. Nothing broken, nothing piercing him through? Good.

As he stood, he looked around, it was _pitch _black. Even this darkness was too thick for him to see through it unassisted. He could see faint shapes and shadows around him, the outlines of trees all in a bland muted grey. Seeing further than this wasn't happening however.

Alucard turned his metaphorical headlights on, his eyes glowing red again, his vision now able to cut through the darkness, the dark grey shades turning a brighter red crimson as he scanned for life signs. Wildlife, people or something more sinister. He'd seen lights of a village before taking the plummet, so he had to be close.

As he scanned his surroundings, he spotted the owl he'd taken out, lying motionless on the ground about five meters away from him. It was dead, that was for certain. He shrugged, oh well, maybe he could make a snack out of it instead of it out of him. He took one step towards the fallen owl before freezing in place.

A single raven flew out of the darkness, landing next to the dead owl. It pecked at the carcass then turned its little head to stare at Alucard. It made no sound, it showed no fear… then another flew out of the darkness, followed by another and another. Alucard reversed that step he'd taken.

Soon there were about a dozen ravens all circling this dead owl, some pecking at the corpse, the rest, staring unflinchingly at the vampire. Finally, one of them cawed, causing the rest to caw, each one after the other before they all erupted into a cacophony of caws, coos, warbles and other bird sounds that Alucard just couldn't tolerate any more. He clamped his hands over his ears and grit his teeth.

Okay, with a bit of silence, he might be able to figure out where he'd fallen… the trees above were thick, unless he climbed one of these trees to their canopy, flying out of here was going to be difficult. Lets see, when he'd fallen he'd seen a mountain next to the village, that meant he was on the right track…

He flicked his eyes in every which direction, murmuring to himself. He removed one hand from his ears and the crows were still going at it, but he had to just to get a sense of direction for himself. He then flicked his hand, index finger extended, while continuing to murmur; "Never. Eat. Soggy. Weiners." he wasn't sure why he was quoting a children's rhyme, it kinda had just entered his mind.

"Alright…" he mumbled, having decided which way to go. "If… that-" he jabbed his index finger towards the crows. "Is south… towards the school… then north would be-" he pivoted on his heels and immediately let out an uncharacteristic scream of terror. "AAAHH-HA-HA!" in a girlishly high pitch tone as he violently recoiled. It still hadn't been as high as the cry from what he'd seen.

A… man, or at least it looked like a man had been right in his face with what looked like the skull of a deer for a mask. Upon locking eyes with the empty sockets of the man, Alucard had heard a high pitched, almost comical - if it hadn't been so heart stopping - squeal from the creature… like a combination of a low horn and high pitched elk bray.

Alucard scrambled back a bit on his… well, back until he found himself bumping into the owl carcass… he did a quick shoulder check to see the ravens were still standing around, only now they hopped and wobbled their way around him to fully surround him. "Uhhh…" his eyes darted back to the masked man. The man extended his arms. It was then that Alucard realized this wasn't a man.

His arms were not flesh, but wood and wicker, the skull wasn't a mask, it was its head. It's entire body was covered in moss and vines. It released a high elk-like bray as the ravens began to caw madly again, taking off and surrounding the monster.

Alucard scrambled to his feet and reached for his sword only to remember; he didn't have one any more! _Shit_. Alright, no point in holding back now. The glow of his eyes intensified as he used his bloods potency to strengthen his muscles and fortify his physical form. He felt the need for a weapon, but lacking one, he then directed his immortal vitae into his hands, extending to his fingertips as his vampyric claws extended from his fingernails.

He was ready to throw down. This thing, this creature was of the Woodwoad family of forest spirits and supernatural humanoids. Originally the term had specifically meant _wildmen_, but since the Supernatural Revelation, the term had become an umbrella term for any humanoid nature type supernatural creatures including Nephalim and Sasquatch and Yeti.

This one in particular was a warped and twisted version of a Polish woodland spirit called a Leshy, an unbelievably resilient, highly aggressive, teleporting spriggan that could manipulate virtually every aspect of the surrounding forest. Alucard was the first to strike, using a low level burst of Celerity to enhance his speed as he closed the distance in a single step. The moment his claws were to make contact with the Leshy however, the ravens around it dissipated and warped, flying off behind him. His strike had passed through nothing but air.

Even with his supernatural speed, he was too slow to pivot and counter the incoming antler blow to his abdomen as he was caught between the spriggan's antlers, who stood upright and shook its entire body before Alucard was finally released, thrown against a thick oak with a _crack_.

Alucard emitted a grunt of pain as he fell to the ground. A few ribs had been broken from the feel of it, but he could bear the pain easily in this state. _"If I strike first, he'll just teleport behind me." _he thought, he had to find a way to outwit it. Then he got an idea. He feigned mortal injury, slumping against the tree, reaching up for a low brach, pretending to use it for support as he dragged it as far down as he could without snapping it.

The thing brayed again and he could sense it preparing to charge, he peeked up to confirm this as it began to rush him, running on all fours like an animal, despite its humanoid shape. Alucard was about to execute his plan when he felt thick roots erupt from the ground and wrap around his feet. _"Uhhh… we can still do this, right?" _Alaric wondered. _"Yeah, course we can."_

He'd just have to give a margin for error… once the thing closed in he forced himself up and tried to jump up, using the branch as leverage. Thankfully for him, he managed to tear his feet from the roots, soaring above the spriggan and snapping the branch as he flipped over it, bringing the heavy oak stick down on the top of the spriggan's head with a wooden, bone splintering crack. Thanks to his use of Blood Strength, he'd knocked the spirit's head clean off, shattering the skull against the ground. The creature brayed one last time before dissipated into mist.

Alucard chuckled to himself, casting the broken branch aside. He needed to find Tarbes, maybe talk to the locals, find out if there was any legend surrounding what he'd just killed.

Then there was another, very near, elk bray. Alucard tensed up and leaped into the air, flipping backwards over the reformed spriggan, complete with a new deer skull head. Either this was a new one… or he _hadn't _slain it. It seemed quite, quite angry… he was going to go with _hadn't_. Merely pissed it off.

The spirit seemed to be in a berserker frenzy, lashing its antlers and wooden clawed hands at the encroaching vampire. It was fast, but not nearly fast enough to get the better of Alucard while he was under the effects of Celerity. That said, while they were locked eye to socket, getting a strike on either of them was going to be near impossible. Alucard could dodge everything the spirit threw at him and the spirit could essentially_ misty step_ out of the way of any strike Alucard threw.

Even then, Alucard could weather anything but a straight up decapitation while the spirit seemed capable of doing just that! What to do? _"Run." _Alaric thought. _"Pfft, it may not be mortal, but it's still just an animal! It can't even hope of besting a vampire!" _Alucard countered, refusing to turn tail and flee. _"Run!" _Alaric repeated and Alucard grit his teeth. No.

After exchanging a few more meaningless blows; swiping antlers, slashing claws and the occasional futile fanged bite, there was a brief lull in their duel. They were surrounded by dark oaks, the forest expanding in every direction with fallen logs and thick bush decorating the forest floor. Alucard wondered if a Leshy could get tired. He couldn't. He could keep going till the sun rose.

A howl - no, a pair of howls knocked his high expectations down a notch as a pair of forest wolves emerged from the shadows, flanking the Leshy. _"Ah shit…" _Alucard thought, it was getting serious now. The wolves advanced as the spriggan turned into a puff of black smoke, surrounded by a pair of smokey ravens. He made sure to keep an eye on the smokey spirit, while keeping in mind the approaching wolves.

That way, when one snapped at him, pouncing, he easily managed to slap it away with his clawed hands - his vampyric claws tearing into and slashing open the wolf's neck and upper chest, spewing canine blood across the forest floor, dying the grass crimson. The wolf emitted a whimper that almost, _almost, _made Alucard pity the animal. The poor whimper of the dying animal may have had a bit more of a psychological impact on him than he let on… for as the second wolf lunged, maw snapping, he found himself hesitate. The wolf snapped onto his arm and Alaric emitted a pained yelp of his own as he reflexively grabbed the wolf around the neck with his free hand and flicked his wrist, with his vampyric strength, the wolf's neck snapped like a twig.

Thankfully it didn't make as much of a whimper, rather is let out a fast, sharp yelp and moved no more as he cast the dead animal aside.

All this time he hadn't let the Leshy go, it was behind him, he was sure of it. He ducked and sidestepped, countering the spirits spear-like wooden talons as it struck at him, pivoting a hundred and eighty degrees and slashing his claws across the spriggan's torso. Only… he didn't feel a connection as his claws passed harmlessly through the spriggan as if it weren't even there, as if it were made of mist.

The spriggan seemed to have anticipated this move from the vampire as a second set of wooden blades swiped towards him, slashing him across his chest as he tried to veer out of their way, sending the vampire rolling to the floor with a grunt.

Alucard struggled to his feet. If he couldn't even hurt it, but it could hurt him… how the hell was he to beat it? He patted his chest down which was sticky with dark ichor, raising his hand to see his blood coated fingers. He shuddered at the sight of his own vitae.

It was around now that he began to realize is true position. He wouldn't win like this, but he _might _lose. _"Run now?!" _Alaric exclaimed in his head.

"Yeah… yeah retreat sounds like a good idea." Alucard finally conceded, rousing his blood to seal his wounds before he lost to much vitae. He then turned tail and narrowly ducked another swipe from a reforming misty shape. "Okay. Going!" he yelped, booking it through the woods, leaping over logs and plowing through bush. He amplified his Celerity levels to full, sprinting through the woods at speeds that the Leshy couldn't hope to match. At least that's what he hoped.

A couple ravens flew past him, but he didn't dare look behind him - he could see the edge of the woods, not stopping for anything as he soared out the mouth of the forest. He didn't even have time to slow down as he suddenly found himself speeding down a hill at a pace even he couldn't keep up with. "W-Woah!" he yelped as he lost his footing and began stumbling before finally his feet came out from under him and he just rolled _all _the way to the bottom, only stopping after _thwacking _his head against what felt like a stone wall.

"Uuuuuggghhh…" he groaned, struggling to sit up. He cast a glance up the hill where he saw a flock of ravens exit the woods, only turn tail and fly right back into the trees. As expected, a Leshy won't leave the forest it calls home. So long as he didn't go back in, he'd be safe. He quickly patted himself down, his claws having retracted. He was fine, he was fine.

Alaric threw his arms over the wall, _"Learned your lesson?" _he wondered… no response… yeah, no, he totally hadn't. Once he pulled himself up he nearly had yet another heart attack as he came face to face with a bushy bearded villager, donning a scottish tartan beret, holding a torch with a thick rucksack over his shoulders. "GAAHH-HA!" he yelped in the same girlish tone that Alucard had used when encountering the spriggan earlier. He'd had enough excitement for one day.

"I see you've had a run in with the Elven Forest Lord." said the spry old man - with a voice that just screamed, _come stay awhile and listen. _A very old man Kane like character, his beard and mustache masking his mouth, so it looked like his facial hair was simply gyrating as he spoke.

Alaric pulled himself up onto the fence, leaning over it in a sort of sprawling, exhausted fashion. "Elven Forest Lord?" he asked.

The two of them tensed up as the bray of an elk echoed out from the woods, their eyes widening as they both stared back into the woods… just… staring. Nothing came out of there, but that didn't make them any less nervous.

:"Aye, legend says that the spirit was an elven lord that was slain by our great lord Brimir, it's only now - rather, about a hundred years ago - that the spirit began attacking those that dared enter his realm in life." explained the old man.

Alaric did a quick double take as to where he was, as the thought of _what was this old man doing out here, _had just occurred to him. Much to his surprise, he was right outside the welcome sign to Tarbes village. The old man must have been a sentry or something. Town watch?

Alaric did however find this hard to believe, which might have seemed a bit rich from a _freaking vampire_. He'd seen Elves back in the mortal realm, yes they were beautiful creatures, but they were _not _Tolkien elves. They were mischief makers, sprites of agony and misery who loved making people's lives suck, though often didn't go so far as to completely ruin them. They were the ones from Norse Pagan mythology. Tolkien elves just didn't exist. They were true fantasy.

No, that thing in there had been a Leshy Spriggan, he was sure of that. Very terrifying creatures. He understood why the locals feared it so much, but then he realized something. Something that coincided with something Siesta and the old man had said. "A hundred years ago?" he asked.

Siesta had said her ancestor was from another world… possibly the mortal world. He had to know; "Have there been any other cases of spirits like this?" the old man shook his head;

"Not as far as I know." he replied, "And believe me son, In my younger years, I've been around."

Alaric furrowed his brow, tearing his gaze from the old man and looking back towards the forest; Siesta sure as hell was human, no doubt about that - last he'd seen her she wasn't sporting bark-skin and a deer skull for a head. But still, he couldn't shake the feeling that Siesta's ancestor and this Leshy may have had something in common. _"Siesta… what aren't you telling me?" _he wondered.

It was a long shot of course, but interlocking connections within the Supernatural World were just as common as coincidences. That being said…

"Pardon me old man, I need to get home. I've had enough adventure for one night." said Alaric as he vaulted over the low stone wall that lined the main road, separating it from the grass field and hill on the other side of it.

"You sure you're alright son?" asked the old man, motioning towards Alaric's chest.

He looked down to see his torn surcoat, stained with blood. He cringed, "Yeah… I'm fine, it just nicked me." he lied.

"If… if you say so…" the old man sounded like he wanted to push the subject…

Alaric waved him down, "It's fine, I like to think I gave that thing a run for its money, it's not eating me for dinner tonight." he replied, giving the old man a playful two finger salute as he began to backpedal up the road away from the village before turning and taking off at a jog.

"Wait, where are you go-" the old man started, only to get shushed as Alaric just yelled back;

"Bye!" and picked up his speed to that of a mortal's sprint. He'd answered enough questions and taken enough beatings for one night. As much as he wanted to return, find out where that spirit had come from, what it was doing here, maybe put an end to it, he knew that without the proper kit, he wasn't doing any of it.

As much as he didn't want to admit it. He needed Louise. But he just didn't want to rope her into this, she'd dealt with enough punishment through her life. The last thing he wanted to do was to drag her into a whole new mess. One that he himself had yet to even remotely understand.

* * *

**And that's likely to be the last chapter for a few weeks; I'm going to be moving out literally the day after posting this (15/06/2019) and won't have my computer available for a few weeks. (I'm totally going to re-read through this chapter on my phone or something and find even more stupid little typos and fly of the handle knowing I can't edit them, aren't I?)**

**14/06/2019 - 4:30PM PST Notice: I see you typo in the A/N, I SEE YOU and I'm not going to change you even though you piss me *OFF* because the timing and honest placement of it is just so fucking perfect...**

**But hey, that leaves plenty of time to get some feed back! That said; if you liked or didn't like the chapter, please, let me know. Tell what I did wrong, what I did right and if there are any mistakes. If you can't find the time to leave a review, but did enjoy, just adding the story to your favorites and following it means a lot to me. As always, these will help me find the motivation to put out additional chapters!**

**So, until next posting!**


	5. Blade and Brigandine

**Sorry for the delay, took longer than expected to get my computer set up after the move.**

* * *

Louise couldn't help but notice just how on edge her familiar seemed. It hadn't helped that upon waking up in the morning, she'd found his surcoat in a bloody, tattered heap on the floor of her closet. He didn't seem eager to talk about what had happened, but he repeatedly asked her when they would be going.

"After breakfast." she'd replied, it was the weekend, so she'd be able to head into town today whenever she wanted. Technically it was also void day, but that only meant Louise had very limited time to get her familiar into presentable shape.

Three days from now, there was to be a presentation, where each second year student would showcase their summoned familiars. Louise still hadn't quite figured out what her familiar could do for that, but at the very least she wanted him to look the part. Perhaps she'd make him appear as her personal knight. Yeah, that would show Kirche and the rest!

He worried that they would take too long and the sun would be high in the sky before they even left, but Louise had promised him that if he behaved he'd have a present for him. That time had at last arrived as Louise made her way back from Mr. Colbert's lab with one of the elixirs he'd brewed.

He'd managed to make enough elixir for a batch of half a dozen potions, she wasn't sure what he'd used other than voidstalk and his own blood, but the end result was a deep maroon colored potion that smelled… questionable.

Regardless, there was only one way to tell if it was going to work. Louise climbed the tower to her room, entering to find the curtains shut tight, as had been expected. Her familiar slumped down against the wall next to her vanity, eyes shut. "Hey!" Louise barked, getting his blue eyes to snap open as he jumped slightly.

"_Jesus…_" he mumbled, raising a hand to his forehead as he released a drawn out, exasperated sigh before yawning loudly. "How long was I out?"

"Just about an hour." Louise replied, holding the elixir out towards him. "Here, drink this and let's go."

Her familiar raised a brow, seemingly still coming around from his brief nap as he emitted another yawn before pushing up off the wall and onto his feet. He reached out and took the elixir from Louise, curiously popping the cork and taking a sniff.

"Huh…" he mused, not seeming nearly as off put by the scent as Louise had been. It was quite odorous to her _mortal _nose, but the vampire didn't seem to mind it. "So… what is this?" he asked.

"I-" Louise started, barely catching herself as she stopped herself from spilling the beans. She's almost found herself saying that she'd asked Mr. Colbert to concoct the elixir for her, but that would out him in a heartbeat.

"I did some research and managed to make a potion for you. It should grant you temporary immunity to the sun." she explained as she watched his expression for tells, of which, he made no effort to hide. He raised a brow of his even further than it had been before as he eyed her over skeptically.

"_You?" _he asked, casually flicking an index finger at her. He didn't seem to be buying it.

So Louise just had to sell it harder; "_Yes, me!_" Louise snapped, slotting her hands at her hips and furrowing her brow. "Are you saying you don't think I could whip something like this up? I'm smart!" she exclaimed.

Her familiar's eyes darted to the side and he mumbled something under his breath in a language she couldn't understand. "What was that?" she asked, her tough expression still holding firm on her face.

"Nothing, nothing." he replied in Tristanian. He took a hesitant sip at first, before knocking it back. Once it was empty he set it aside. "Well, guess there's only one way to see if this works…" he added, "Wonder if I should wait a few minutes before testing this?"

That seemed like a good idea… the two gave it a couple minutes, just idling around her room for the duration - an awkward, tense two minutes of silence. "Okay, that's enough." her familiar muttered, walking towards the window and casting a hand towards the curtains. "This is stupid, why am I doing this?" he tacked on as he took a step to the side and cracked the curtains open.

Tentatively, he stuck his hand into the light. Louise could see the grimace on his face as he braced himself… then his hand crossed into the sunlight and his expression softened. More than softened. He looked, shocked? Surprised? Excited?

"Oh… Oh shit… Oh shit!" he cheered, skidding into the sunlight from his hidey corner. Standing there he extended his arms and did a little fist pump. "Oh this is great!" It seemed like it worked! He looked over his shoulder, fully basking in the sun now. "Please tell me there's more of these."

Louise smirked, extended a hand and raising her index finger, giving it a little wiggle. "Ah, ah, ah. If you want more of those elixirs then you'll play nice won't you?" she taunted and her familiar's expression faltered.

"Ah… I see where this is going." he grumbled, recollecting himself and standing upright, shutting the curtains again before walking around to the foot of Louise's bed, standing just before her. "Fine, I'll play your game."

Louise mentally cheered, clenching her fist in victory; The first hurdle had been passed!

"Alright, good! Now get ready, we're headed into town." she stated, turning about to head back downstairs and pick out a horse. She made her way to the stairs and was so gleeful that she threw aristocratic form out the window and hopped up onto the railing and slid down the first railing to the next floor below before skipping down the next set and bounding out the tower door with a twirl.

She was on the road to taming the beast - as much as that sounded like a euphemism…

She darted across the field towards the stables, reaching it and casting a glance over back towards the dorms to see her familiar emerging as well. He'd forgon the surcoat today as it was all torn up and bloody, but that was fine, given the potion she'd given him.

He seemed… almost like a different person, standing out in the sun without a care, smile plastered across his face in a gleeful manner not so different from Louise's. Though the intention was likely quite, quite different. She saw him outstretch his arms as he walked down the stairs, reveling in the ability to walk unharmed among broad daylight. Then once he was finished with that, he took off towards Louise.

Louise noticed that he was still wearing the plain black shirt that he'd arrived in and just like his surcoat that he'd somehow obtained - she didn't question it at first - also had three large slash marks down the chest of it.

Once he reached her, Louise stared him down with a furrowed brow; "What?" he asked, with a tone that said; _whatever it was, I didn't do it._

She then jabbed a thumb at his chest. "Really?" she replied, causing him to glance down at his tattered shirt, stained with a bit of blood.

"What? You want me to go shirtless?" he replied, a tone of skepticism lingering in his voice as he raised both brow almost mockingly.

Louise crossed her arms, scoffing, "No…" she replied, looking away from him. _Not really_, but since he'd brought it up, maybe checking out what her familiar's physical form looked like might prove… beneficial. That said, she wasn't keen on the idea of him walking around town with a tattered, bloodied shirt. She then voiced this.

Her familiar groaned audibly, rolling his head and eyes.

Right, horse. She found the stablehand who promptly fetched her a proper steed. What? You thought she was going to do it herself? Please… the stablehand did however provide an adequate mount, providing Louise with a black and white palomino with a light, tan leather saddle.

Louise mounted up, slotting her feet in the stirrups and grasping the reigns. She looked down at her familiar and was about to jerk her head towards the back of the horse. She ended up however finding a loss for words. She felt her face turning red. It was getting harder and harder to deny it; her familiar was _hot_.

He had done as she indirectly requested, throwing his shirt over his shoulder, holding onto it with one of his hands while the other was slotted in a pocket at his hip. "Happy?" he asked with a groan. Maybe she wanted to give him those potions more often, at least during the summer.

He wasn't particularly muscular, what toning he did have was rather subtle. He wasn't beefed up like a lumberjack, but he wasn't as thin as many of the noble boys around the school. His shoulders were a bit broader than many of the noble boys as well, with a more masculine set on him. If Louise had to classify his build, he was of average size with an athletic physique with faint muscle toning and blemishless, creamy pale skin. Not a scar of defect was spotted, even where she thought he'd taken whatever blow caused the damage to his garbs, there was no marking.

"Uh-guh…" she mumbled. _What?_ "I mean, yeah, fine! Just get up here!" she replied.

With a shrug, he complied and hoisted himself up onto the horse, taking a seat behind her. "I'm not enjoying this for the record. It feels… weird." he remarked.

As they took off, Louise speed her steed along at a gallop right out of the gate for a while, her familiar forced to grasp her shoulders to keep from falling off. "So… what's the plan?" he asked her.

"We're going to get you spruced up. If you're going to be my familiar and unofficial knight, then you need to look the part. Thankfully I have plenty of funds this week - no unexpected costs came up." Louise replied. Thankfully her familiar hadn't cost her anything except blood and patience since summoning him. _Odd_, yes, to be thankful for that, but it was better than say, spending a fortune on him just to keep him healthy or something.

"Okay… and that entails…?" he continued, prodding her for more details.

Louise sighed quietly under her breath, masked by the rushing wind from the swift gallop of their steed. "Well, appearances are everything. So first, we're going to get you some proper clothing - both to look the part and so you can better protect me." she declared. Basically, she had the plan of getting him some nice clothing so he could change out of that ratty peasant garb - or what was left of it. Going shirtless as he did actually just made him look even more like a common villager.

"Then I'll also think about getting you a proper weapon." she added, though she had her priorities. Looks first, weapon second, since she was sure he was more than strong enough to beat up anyone that threatened her.

Her familiar mumbled in acknowledgement. "Alright…" he didn't sound very grateful.

Louise brushed it off as him still being a bit confused about the details. Whatever, he'd show some damn gratitude when all was said and done, or there'd be hell to pay.

Louise however wasn't put at ease once they finally reached Tristainia. If she wanted her familiar all to herself, she hadn't made it easier by low-key ordering him to go shirtless. The men didn't pay him much attention, seeing him as just another villager, but the common girls in town… well.

Many of them of the adolescent and young adult range had their heads turned as they passed. Louise could vaguely overhear whispers of; _who's that handsome guy _and various other less innocent _girl_ talk. Just ignore it Louise, they all had nothing on _her_. She was a noble, they were commoners. Enough said.

As they reached the local stables, Louise pulled her steed aside to store her mount while the two perused the marketplace. She dismounted at the front of the stable where one of the hands took her mount from her to stable it within. She glanced back at her familiar who too had dismounted to see his face glowing red. Err, not _glowing _in the same sense as his eyes usually did, but… well, in an embarrassed fashion.

"Brimir, calm down would you, you'll embarrass yourself and in turn embarrass me." she remarked.

"Oh, _I'm sorry_. I'd rather be wearing a tattered blood stained shirt right now! This is so uncomfortable for me!" he replied, making his discomfort known. For a moment she wondered if the sun was causing him pain, but no, he ranted on; "I mean, yeah fashion wise, it's got the same taste as an unsalted cracker, but hey, I'd still eat it because my low self-esteem dictates just about everything I do in my life…" he rambled, seeming to slightly derail near the end.

Louise raised a brow. This was… a much different Alaric than she was used to. Where was the one that was constantly snapping at her and nearly killing her? Did it have something to do with the elixir? "Are… you okay?" Louise asked, actually feeling a slight pang of concern for her familiar. Of course if he was in physical pain she'd _have _to be concerned, but… he just seemed off right now.

"Yes and no. Part of me is totally down for this, part of me _loves _showing off, but currently, I'm simply not in that kind of _mood_." he replied, making Louise's confusion and concern only grow. Well, she had seen him flip moods on a coin, so perhaps it was a vampire thing - or y'know he was bipolar… which Louise wasn't writing off.

"Well c'mon then, let's get you some proper garbs." Louise replied, snapping her fingers on either side of his head.

The two wandered the market place, with her familiar faking a neutral expression - since it was the best he could do apparently. Very obviously, he tried to ignore the comments and stares he was getting from the village and town girls. Louise herself tried to ignore them as well. _"Stop ogling up my familiar like he's a piece of meat you… you… tramps!" _she thought, fuming at the ears. He was _her _familiar, not theirs.

Finally, they found a location _suitable _for their first stop. Louise even muttered so, nudging her familiar who had his gaze fixated on the ground. "This looks suitable." she said.

"Boooo…" Alaric groaned out and Louse could feel him roll his eyes, she furrowed her brow, what did she say? They were at an armorer's, it was a suitable place to buy a suit of- Ooohhh... Hah… Louise mentally and physically facepalmed. Pun _not _intended.

The two entered the shop, while they sold armor out of the open storefront, Louise would need her familiar measured and fitted. Besides, most of what they showed out front was common foot soldier gear, little more than padded leather and quilted linen coats.

She stepped up to the shop counter, she could hear the armorer at work somewhere in the back, but couldn't see him, only the sound of hammer against anvil made his presence known. Louise looked around for some kind of bell or knocker she could use to signal that she wanted to buy something. She spotted a little anvil shaped ringer with a tiny mallet next to it. She furrowed her brow, she had to admit, that was kinda cute and quaint.

She picked the little mallet up and taped it against the anvil, which emitted a sharp _ding _as she struck it. The hammering in the back stopped and out bellowed the voice of a gruff man who sounded like he'd been inhaling smoke all day. "Be right there!" and the hammering continued for a moment, before the sound of hot metal hitting water hissed out from the back, a little bit of steam wafted out the connecting, doorless doorway that connected the store with the blacksmith. Then for a moment, silence.

After about half a minute, a man who quite frankly, looked exactly like Louise had been expecting, emerged from the back with spikey, soot covered short hair and a bushy brown beard that was just as scraggly and soot smothered. He donned a heavy brown apron around his body, overtop a white shirt and thick black trousers. "Greetings young lady. What can I do for you on this fine day?" he asked, resting his hands atop the counter, looking down at the pink haired mage.

Louise jabbed a thumb back at her familiar, who was busy browsing the examples of gambesons and arming doublets that they had on display, across from sets of chainmail hauberks, brigandine vests and full suits of plate armor. "My fa- bodyguard needs a new set of armor. His last one was… well, kinda ruined." she said, throwing her initial white lie out the window and just going full ham with it. Go big or go home.

The blacksmith looked up and over Louise at her familiar, eyeing him up. "Son, c'mere." he said, getting Alaric's attention as he looked over from the long waisted black gambeson he'd been viewing. It was a nice one that he'd been looking at, Louise had to admit, fashioned with leather buckles and finely quilted black leather and linen. It had the vibe of a noble duelist or lone swordsman. On its own it could have simply been worn as a knight's fancy coat… Louise found that it might even be suitable for a formal setting, they way the quilted pattern flowed seamlessly from one side of the coat to the other.

"Hmm?" Alaric mumbled, approaching and standing next to Louise.

The blacksmith looked up at the coat that he'd been viewing. "Taken a liking to that one eh? M' wife designed that one with nobility in mind. Function and fashion all rolled inta' one she said. Not to toot my own horn, but she done good methinks."

Louise was inclined to quietly agree. "Anyways, mind coming around the counter here?" asked the armorer as he reached under the counter and pulled several lengths of twine from a drawer. They were of various colors, with one being dyed red, another black and the last being left regular brown. Along with that, he also held a small, short cutting knife. "Gonna need to measure you son."

Alaric nodded and complied, walking around Louise to present himself as the man met him halfway, instructing him to hold his arms up, wrapping the twine around various parts of Alaric's body, before cutting the rope once he'd circled it fully around whatever part he was measuring. He'd then set aside the cut rope on the countertop, each one being a slightly different length.

As he took her familiar's sizes, he asked Louise various questions; "So, decided on a design ma'am? What kind of kit are you looking for?"

Louise opened her mouth to reply, but she was drawing a blank… she didn't know. She wasn't an expert on armor! She was a noble who never thought she'd have need of such things! Magic was her armor - which coming from her almost sounded like a joke in hindsight, but…

She pursed her lips and looked up at her familiar, who caught her gaze and returned it. She looked at him almost pleadingly, as if he'd have a better idea of what he needed. "Well…" he started, then cleared his throat and took on a more regal sounding tone; "My lady Valliere will be putting the order in, so the final say is up to her. But, if my lady wishes to set a price range, I may be able to provide adequate recommendations."

Louise raised both brows, she hadn't expected _that _from him… and that silky tone he used. Louise shook her head, this was no time for swooning. She had about a thousand gold on her. A full suit of plate armor would be nice, but that would be _expensive_, a good suit of armor was about as much as a small manor. She did want to still have the cash to buy a weapon for her familiar... "Well, what would be within, say, an eight to six-hundred price range?" she asked.

"Hmm." the armorer mused, taking another of her familiar's sizes. "Well, most plate designs would be out of the picture. Your best bet might be scale, chain, laminar or brigandine. Though ultimately the price will depend on how much material we'll be using. A full suit is going to cost more than say, just a vest or shirt. That said, you'll also probably want some under-padding - a gambeson or arming doublet to sink between your skin and armor to prevent irritation and padding." he answered.

"Well, I don't need terribly much armor." Alaric mused, he pursed his lips and thought for a moment. "Perhaps a brigandine vest." he said, "Like that one." he added, jabbing a thumb towards one of the displays. Louise looked at what he was pointing at.

Louise couldn't tell quite how the armor was made, as it was covered by a fine red fabric, studded with steel dots that made a decorative pattern across the fabric. It was simply a vest with light steel plating across the shoulders of the dummy, complemented by short, shin guards and formal looking but effective leather gloves and boots, both folded towards the top.

"A set like that'd run about three hundred if yer lookin' for the entire thing." The armorer replied. Alaric cast a glance at Louise, who nodded, that was acceptable. But then came the under armour. "Now what about the padding for underneath."

Louise grimaced, she'd forgotten about that. "Just out of curiosity, how much would a coat like that cost?" her familiar asked, nodding back towards the fancy looking one that he'd been observing before. Louise canted her head back to look at it. It _was _a nice arming coat. Perfect for formal gatherings, perfect for protection and just all around practical in every sense while still retaining an air of nobility to it.

"Specifically? That's the only one I've got. It'd take months, if not years for me wife to make another. I couldn't let it go for less than six hundred." and Louise nearly gagged. That, plus the armor would be almost all her money. But she _really _wanted that jacket and she could tell her familiar desired it also. Huh, figure that, the first thing they both agreed on was a stylish black armored jacket.

She then heard her familiar clear his throat and she looked back to see the him locking eyes with the armorer, who in turn was locked with Alaric's gaze. She tensed up as she saw his eyes glow their vampyric red - yet the armorer didn't seem to flinch. They glowed for all of a short moment before her familiar uttered; "Seven-fifty for the lot." he said, driving for a total price a hundred and fifty below the original total.

The armorer stared back at the vampire, unflinching. He then shook his head as if coming out of a stupor. "Yeah… seven-fifty sounds good." he replied, cutting the last of Alaric's measurements and setting it aside. He seemed… unphased. Acting as if nothing had happened.

Louise's eyes darted between her familiar and the armorer… she was just waiting for the armorer to realize what he'd agreed to, but he never did. "Alright." the armorer resumed, "Got all your measurements here. All you need to do now is pay up and the gambeson is yours right now, the armor on the other hand is going to take a while to forge. Thankfully, brigandine isn't quite as tedious to forge as chainmail, so expect it to be ready in a week or two." finished the armorer, who then looked back over at the two, who just stood there on the other side of the counter. One holding back a smug grin while the other looked at the armorer, stupefied.

Louise shook her head, clearing her mind as she fished out the appropriate coinage. She stacked an appropriate amount of Ecu coins on the counter, the larger gold coins equal to ten pieces worth of gold. Was she spending wildly? Yeah, but as a noble, she needed these things. Any less would tarnish her status. She didn't want to appear as some commoner or low class noble who hired a peasant as her personal bodyguard.

Once all was paid, Alaric wandered over to where the black gambeson was hung up, glancing at the armorer who gave him a nod, folding his arms across the counter. Releasing a slight huff of approvement, he reached up and removed the coat from the display, unbuckling the front and opening the coat to reveal soft fur lining within. Louise only had one worry concerning that coat. It was the beginning of summer and that thing looked like it didn't breathe at all.

Though much to her surprise, the coat actually fit her familiar _very _well. It hugged his form nicely and didn't seem to add much weight at all, tapering off below the waist to form a quilted fauld of armored linen. The sleeves fit nicely too, covering most of his arm, though perhaps being slightly short, not quite covering his entire wrist. That was fine though, she was sure the gloves that were coming with the full suit of armor would mend that nicely.

Once he was fully buckled up in the arming coat, Louise gave him a once over. Her familiar reached behind his neck to pull up a fine heavy black silk hood that was attached to the coat, the hood had a little visor hanging off it to keep the sun out of the wearer's eyes and she could tell there was still room to pull it down further across his face. The more she looked at it, the more it seemed that this arming jacket was made just for him.

The armorer counted up the coins Louise had provided. "Alright, seems everything is in order. Will you be coming in to pick the finished product up or shall we have it delivered?" Louise turned around to face the armorer;

"Would you be able to deliver it to the magic academy?" she asked, getting a nod from the armorer, "Then send it there." she finished, getting a _will do_, from the armorer.

"You two have a grand day now - and if y' need a blade, check out my cousin's shop across the way." the armorer added before heading back into the back of the shop. Convenient. That was where they were headed next.

Louise turned to leave, seeing her familiar lower the hood back down as he followed her out. "How's it feel?" she asked, looking back over at him, over her shoulder.

"Good. Good but hot." he replied as they entered the sun. That was expected. "Fits like a glove - mostly - and I still have full mobility. Lighter than I expected as well. I should still have full access to… well, certain features." he finished, causing Louise to raise a brow quizzically. He then elaborated - kinda. He linked his thumbs and made a flapping motion with his remaining eight unhinged fingers and Louise clued in. "Yeah, if I'm too heavy then I'm not going anywhere like that." he explained, "I hope the finished armor doesn't add much more weight." he concluded.

Louise shrugged, she didn't pretend to know anything about how his vampiric powers worked. That didn't matter right now anyways as they crossed the street towards and into the blacksmith - specifically one of the weapons variety. Upon entering a little bell above them was rung as the door bumped into it, creating a pleasant little chime.

A lanky looking man with a whiskered mustache and beard emerged from the back of the plain looking weapons shop. The place had fine looking blades, mauls, maces, warhammers, spears, crossbows and guns lined up along the walls. Louise was looking for a nice sword for her familiar though. Something big, but not too big. Something elegant looking but still functional.

The smaller than expected blacksmith clasped his hands. "I see you two have just come from my cousin's shop. Very nice choice picking that jacket his wife made, very nice indeed." he said, cheesing them up a bit. Louise was fully aware of his flattery tactics and wasn't going to let it get to her.

"I'm looking for a good sword for my bodyguard." she stated. "Something large enough to be intimidating, yet not so much as to be ineffective."

The smith pursed his lips, casting a glance towards her familiar. She hoped he wasn't getting the wrong idea from him. "Well, for such a finely dressed couple, I may have just the thing." he replied, turning about to enter the back of the store… _just _as Louise's face turned bright red.

"_C-c-c-couple?! Us?!" _she screamed in her head. She dared a glance at her familiar in as subtle a fashion as possible. Much to her relief… or perhaps quite the opposite, his expression mirrored hers. When the smith re-emerged, she didn't have the capacity to rebuff his prior statement as he presented a finely crafted and sturdy looking bastard sword. "This sword comes straight from Germania, made of the finest Germanian steel this side of the continent. Regular steel and even poorly forged mithril can't hope to stand up to it!"

Everything about the sword screamed ultimate noble badass. The etchings along it were in Germanian, so she couldn't read it and the handle was wrapped in a soft black leather. The crossguard and pommel formed a holy cross, with both ends of the cross and the base of the pommel socketed with beautiful red rubies. Alaric looked a little uncomfortable with the holy symbolage, but as he grasped the sword to examine it, that expression quickly gave way.

He took a few steps back and gave the blade a few slow swings before flicking his wrist and giving the sword a one handed twirl before gripping the long handle with both hands - more than enough room for a two handed grasp, but light enough to be wielded one-handed. He smiled to himself and looked the blade up and down once more. "This is a _really _well made sword." he mused.

Louise was tempted to agree, there was just one little caveat. "A thousand Ecu?!" Louise exclaimed. That blade cost more than Alaric's entire freaking armor set! "No. No, no, no." there was no way she could get away with spending that much - as much as she'd have loved to, she just didn't have the funds.

She pivoted on her heels, crossing her arms and huffing. Her familiar then whispered to her, "Yeah, sorry Louise, don't think I'm haggling this one down nearly enough…" he mumbled. If the smith cared, he either didn't care or was confident in his own abilities to strike a deal.

Louise sighed lightly, shaking her head. But as she raised her gaze, she found herself drawn to a barrel tucked away in the front corner of the shop, right next to the door. She approached, furrowing her brow as her eyes locked with a single, tarnished blade haphazardly sticking out of the barrel. She knew this had to be the bargain bin, what with all these weapons looking far past their prime.

She reached out and grasped the blade by the handle, reaching forward and also grasping the sheath as she pulled the sword from the barrel. "This one." she stated, getting Alaric and the smith's attention. "How about this one?" she asked, looking over her shoulder and returning to Alaric, holding the sword out for him.

She couldn't explain it, but she was drawn to this blade in particular, like it called out to her, demanding that she present it to her familiar. Alaric in turn eyed the sword over, his gaze lingering on the tarnished crossguard and old, aged brown leather handle wrap. With a shrug he took it and drew the blade. Louise noticed him cringe as the blade was unsheathed.

"I dunno Louise…" he mumbled, giving the blade a quick test, putting some space between him, the shopkeep and Louise. Once he was finished; "It feels… well, adequate. It's nicely balanced and had some power to it." he remarked, holding the tarnished bastard sword in both hands, blade pointe towards the ceiling.

Like the other, this one too was a bastard sword, however unlike the other Germanian steel sword, this one was horribly tarnished, the blade coated with some kind of black scum that would need to be washed off. Louise looked the length of the blade up, she thought she saw runes, similar to the ones on the Germanian sword, but these ones were not written in Germanian… in fact she was pretty sure they were written in Ancient Romallian. It was a language that among the populous was dead, however members of the Brimiric Vatican still understood it - Louise, did not.

The crossguard of this particular blade was pretty simple, two prongs extending from the hilt to form a plain crossguard, while the pommel was quite similar to the Germanian sword, it held no socketed gemstone within, instead where the gem would have been was filled in with solid steel.

"Then what's the problem with it?" Louise asked. If the sword felt good and handled well enough then what was the problem? They could clean it up later, just so long as he had a weapon. Besides, his outfit portrayed enough status without the sword. He could just keep it sheathed and no one would be the wiser… hopefully.

"I dunno… there's just… something about it that makes me uneasy." he muttered. "But… I mean, it's your money, so your choice." he finished. It was settled then.

Louise turned around. "How much?" she asked the smith.

He then held up two fingers; _two hundred. _That was acceptable. She'd even have a little coin left over. She agreed to the terms and provided the smith with the required amount. "Thank you for your business." said the smith as the two departed.

As they walked back through the streets, heading back to the stables, Louise saw her familiar toss the sword over his shoulder, slinging the sheathed blade onto his back. It looked just fine. She didn't know what he was complaining about. Besides, she'd just blown a small fortune on his clothing, he should have been thankful. In fact, he really should have said something by now!

Just as she thought this, her wish was granted. "Thank you Louise." her familiar said and her brow raised in surprise. What timing. She looked back over her shoulder as they approached the stables to see her familiar dip his head in gratitude. "You really didn't have to do any of this, but thank you nonetheless."

Louise turned her gaze forward, smiling in victory. But he didn't need to witness her moment of triumph like this; she huffed and remarked; "Well you should always be thankful. It's only natural for a familiar to be grateful towards their master."

She could just feel his attitude shift, she could just feel the scoff incoming; sure enough…

"Right. Of course." he scoffed, before quietly muttering something in a language she didn't understand.

"Knock it off would you!" she barked, "Stop speaking in tongues I can't understand!"

He chuckled and mumbled; "Oh, what's that, you don't understand Romanian? Aww, muffin." he teased, causing Louise to grumble angrily to herself. Just let it go Louise, just let it go, he was being difficult again and that's just how he'd be from time to time… just let it go. She tried her best to. All that they had to do now was head back to school and everything would just… play out, yeah, that was it. _Wonderful plan Louise._

The two waited for the retrieval of their steed, mounting up once it had been withdrawn from the stable, Louise again taking the reins and spurring the horse back to school. Like last time it was an uneventful trip. As they entered the school, a black and red carriage was just departing, drawn by a pair of brown horses, the man sitting atop the carriage donned in your typical aristocratic footman's garb, lashing his crop forward, spurring on the carriage horses.

Louise didn't think much of it, why would she? Nobles come and go from the academy - be it the students or their visiting parents. However Louise felt her familiar tense up as they passed the carriage. "What?" Louise asked as they came to a stop outside the school stables.

She dismounted, followed by her familiar who had this puzzled expression frozen on his face - brow furrowed and eyes plastered to the ground. "What?" she repeated.

Her familiar shook his head, "Nothing, I just…" he looked over his shoulder, towards the school gate. "...nothing." but Louise could tell it wasn't _nothing_. _Nothing _wouldn't have her familiar looking like he'd just seen a ghost. "I can't be sure of it anyways…" he muttered quietly, Louise almost missing it.

"C'mon, let's head over to the field, I want you practicing some sword techniques." Louise said, giving her fingers a snap to get her familiar's attention before jabbing a thumb towards the field outside her dormitory. Her familiar finally looked up at her, his expression returning to normal. He gave her a subtle nod and the two began to cross the field towards the dorms. Oh if only Louise's problems today had stopped there. But they were only just beginning.

* * *

He found himself experiencing a bit of emotional whiplash right now. The situation he was in right now was just utterly awkward, tense and frankly a little insulting. Just prior to finding himself in this scenario, he'd found himself experiencing a curious presence. It was… familiar. But now, he couldn't even bring himself to think about what he'd felt.

Alaric didn't know what to say as he found himself metaphorically sandwiched between an arguing Louise and Kirche. Some small blue haired girl standing off to the side, nose buried in a book while they fought. How had this all come about? Well apparently Kirche had been following them. Kirche had also apparently not given up on seducing him. If that meant bribing him with treasures and picking fights with Louise than she didn't seem bothered by it.

He stood between the two, holding the tarnished sword Louise had gotten him in one hand, a sword mind you that he _still _felt uncomfortable holding for some reason, while the other was the exquisite Germanian steel sword that Kirche had picked up. The very sword that he and Louise had been considering before hearing that damn price tag. He wasn't sure how she obtained it and perhaps he didn't _want _to know… but regardless, this didn't stop them from demanding him to name the superior blade.

In his opinion, it was pretty fucking obvious which was better. Buuuut he had a feeling that this wasn't so much about the quality of a blade as it was petty rivalry game. Something he _really _didn't want to take part in. "Err… why can't they both be just fine?" he asked. He soon regretted saying that as both girls got up in his face and declared that his answer was pathetic and weak. Yeah, yeah he'd only a fools hope that such an answer would have placated them, he should have known better… girls, right? Heh. Yeah he was just gonna shrink down a little and pray they took it out on each other instead of him.

Especially Kirche. Louise may have scared his inner monster when she raised her wand, but Kirche scared _every aspect of him_. He wasn't entirely sure what Louise's specialty was, all he knew so far was she could make things explode, which honestly was pretty cool, but she didn't seem that pleased with her powers. Kirche on the other hand, Alaric knew full well what her school of magic was and it terrified the ever-unliving-shit out of him. Fire. So much fire…

The two continued to bicker back and forth, with the blue haired girl not seeming to give much of a shit. Alaric himself was eager to see himself from this encounter. Things reached a peak when both of them whipped their wands out, pointing them at one another. Alaric yelped and recoiled, backpedalling until he found his back against the outer wall of the dormitory tower. Oh god, they were really going to go at it!

"Hey! Can you girls freaking CLAM IT!" someone bellowed, it sounded like it came from behind him, but that was impossible…

Both of the fighting girls looked towards Alaric, Louise's eye twitching. "What did you say?!" she hissed, almost raising her wand but then remembering where that could lead and lowering it, instead opting to crack her knuckles, something that Alaric honestly thought she couldn't do.

"I said nothing!" Alaric exclaimed, shrilly. But that didn't stop the two from approaching with pissed intent. They didn't seem to be in a talking or reasonable mood. "Oh fuck…" he mumbled.

But then, amongst the rabble, a voice of reason - sorta; "The sword." the blue haired girl uttered, getting everyone to look curiously at the blades on Alaric's back.

"After all these years and I get woken up by you clowns. That's just typical, ain't it?" said a man's voice… the tarnished blade popping out of the sheath on Alaric's back on it's own, causing Alaric to clench his jaw. He processed… processed, then flailed his arms trying to get the blade off his back. He knew there was something unsettling about the blade!

The blade clattered off his back and onto the ground. Still, even on the ground the sword remained partially out of the sheath… as it _spoke _the runes that were etching into the blade lit up with each syllable, briefly glowing a range of blue from cyan to aqua to cobalt to navy. "Oh and isn't this awkward. _You're _gandalfr? Well… ain't that ironic."

Alaric hesitantly picked the blade back up, holding the sheathed blade up, narrowing his eyes what little of the exposed blade there was. "Either I'm going the way of the Caspian Verruckt or this sword is talking." he muttered, though in hindsight, nobody except him would get that reference.

"I don't know what you mean by that… but the sword is definitely talking." Louise replied, just as stunned.

"Oh and it turns out the master and his familiar are both slower than snails, awesome." The sword commented, making both Alaric and Louise groan. "Oh, am I being offensive? Sorry. I just freaking woke up! What year is it! Where the hell am I? So forgive me if I'm a little tense!"

Alaric blinked once after hearing this, even though the sword sounded very confused and very angry, he couldn't help but resonate with the blade. "Yeah… yeah I get that feeling sometimes too." he muttered quietly before shaking his head. "Y'know, maybe this won't be so bad. You and I sword, we're kinda in the same boat. Anyways, name's Alaric."

"Oh is that so? Hah, well ain't that a coincidence. I'm called Derflinger by the by, though that's not going to make this any less awkward." Replied the sword.

Alaric checked over his shoulder to see Kirche and Louise listening in with peaked interest. The blue haired girl seemed again, like she couldn't give a shit. "Oh… why's that?" Alaric asked, turning his head back towards the blade, still only the first bit of the bottom of the blade exposed.

"Well, I'm supposed to kill creatures like you." The sword replied and Alaric tensed up; _OKAY_. Maybe _that _was why he felt so uncomfortable holding this thing!

"W-what?" he stammered, trying to find an out so that Kirche didn't clue in. "I mean, isn't that what all blades are supposed to do? Kill humans?" he offered. He wasn't sure if the blade could _see _in the traditional sense. He hoped it did, that way it could pick up on the _ixnay-on-the-vampnay _style glare he was giving it.

"Nah, nah, I mean creatures that ain't- GAH!" Alaric cut the blade off by shoving it back into its sheath as a knee jerk reflex. He was surprised the blade could immediately identify him. Even more surprised when shoving the sword back into the sheath actually worked to shut it up!

"What was that all abou-" Kirche began to ask, only to be cut off by both Louise and Alaric, simultaneously screaming - in perfect sync;

"Nothing!" causing the fiery redhead to jump with no shortage of jiggle. Something that Alaric tried to avoid looking directly at.

Kirche seemed to want to continue prodding, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips, her eyes darting between the master and her familiar with suspicion. That didn't, however, appear to change Kirche's disposition towards Alaric. "Well, whatever, you still didn't answer us as to which sword is best! _Dar-ling_." Kirche taunted, planting her hands on her hips, giving them a slight cock as a smirk appeared on her lips.

Alaric sighed lightly. "Well, now that I've learned the one Louise got me can talk, I definitely think it's the _cooler _one." he replied, playing his words a little. Was the talking sword better? Eh, it was tarnished, less elaborate, a bit lighter and _still _made Alaric uncomfortable while wielding it. Oh, right, and the fact that this _Derflinger _as it called itself was supposed to; "Kill creatures like him" was an added worry. Alaric wasn't sure what the sword meant by that. Vampires specifically? He'd have to interrogate the sword later, once Kirch and the blue haired girl were no longer present.

Louise took his admission of _coolness _to heart and clenching her fist, raising it to her chest triumphantly, declaring; "Hah!" as Kirche pouted.

"Well, mine is still the strongest one!" Kirche rebuffed, causing Louise to drop her act and jab a finger at the redhead, demanding that the contest had already been settled. This ended up sparking yet another heated debate of which Alaric had decided, he'd had enough of. He could play Vampire politics, but when it came to _female _politics, he was a big _nope_.

It was then, however, that Alaric remembered something, or rather, someone that he'd made plans with the other night. He hoped he wasn't too late. He pushed himself up from the ground, rising to his feet and slung both blades over his shoulder so that both hung off his back. "If you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend." he declared, walking around the bickering girls who very much were far too caught up in their argument to notice Alaric depart.

Alaric lightly jogged across the field towards the servant's entrance. He jostled his shoulder, bumping the blade on his back. "Hey, so what was that all about?"

Derflinger popped out of his sheath, with one rune visible, blinking as he spoke; "Oh, _now _you want me to explain myself. Okay, I see how it is." Y'know, for a sword he _was _kinda moody. "I still can't believe just how awkward this is. For crying out loud, I was made to kill monsters and now I find my partner to _be _one. That's just ironic. But that's just how it's gonna be for now, like it or not, you're Gandalfr." and Alaric had to do an auditory double take.

_Gandalf? _He thought that's what he heard, letting his brain correct for him. Then realized, no, it was pronounced _gunned-alf_. Yeah, maybe he'd been shown a bit of Tolkien after arriving in the modern world, that should have come as no surprise. C'mon, he wasn't a barbarian, he was _cultured_. That being said… "What's Gandalfr?" he asked.

"What's Gandalfr? Damn kid, how long's it been?" replied the sword, "Don't tell me people have forgotten about it already!" he exclaimed. Alaric could visualize the sword facepalming right about now. "Look, it's a long story, alright? Generally it ain't important right now, but allow me to summarize. You are a void mage's familiar, Gandalfr's primary task is to protect their said void mage or mages - there's some variables in there, we'll go over that later - in order to allow them to cast their spells." finished the blade, giving Alaric the _void familiar _crash course.

Fat lot of good it did him. Alaric was from another dimension entirely, he had _no _idea what all this void crap was about. To his ears, when he heard _void_, the first thing that popped to mind was some kind of evil, dark energy magic or some shit. Like dark matter manipulation or space magic. Though given what he'd seen in this realm, he doubted he'd see any sci-fi space age shit floating around any time soon.

But for now, he had more imminent concerns. He'd promised Siesta that they'd talk today, but much to his surprise, or rather disappointment, she was nowhere to be found. He searched the courtyard, the servant's quarters, the dining hall before finally ending his search in the kitchen. "Where the hell is she?" he mumbled to himself, scratching behind his head in confusion.

He scanned the kitchen one last time, emitting a sigh of disappointment at his conundrum. He'd actually been looking forward to talking to Siesta again, but unfortunately, the day's chores proved more important. He was about to turn around to leave when a large male hand clapped him on the shoulder causing him to jump slightly. "Hey there our fist! What brings you here?!" bellowed Marteau, way too excitedly for Alaric's comfort.

Once getting over the mini heart attack he'd just endured, Alaric shook his head; "Ah, nothing… just looking for Siesta. I can't find her anywhere." he replied with a shrug.

"Wait, you mean you haven't heard?" Marteau asked, his expression and overall attitude faltering, the excitement and glee he was radiating just a moment ago, taking a backseat. Alaric asked him to elaborate, because just saying; _you haven't heard, _wasn't going to tell him what he hadn't heard. "Siesta was chosen to become a servant to some rich bastard named Count Mott. She was picked up and taken away by carriage a couple hours ago." Marteau explained, his usual jovial tone all but stripped from his voice.

"A couple hours ago?" Alaric asked, his brow raising in surprise. So… it had been the carriage he'd seen when coming back into the academy? Damnit, missed by a thread. It was just his luck. He sighed and lowered his gaze, "Damnit." he muttered dejectedly. "Alright. Thanks Marteau." he finished, giving a slight wave to the chef before pivoting and making his way out of the kitchen. Once he'd left and made his way out into the empty hallway, he paused and his tone swapped immediately.

Concern, he felt nothing but a dreaded concern for Siesta. He wasn't sure about it but when he'd passed that carriage, there had just been something… off about it. He'd felt a presence, or rather a type of presence he'd not felt for a while now. Then, as if to confirm his suspicions.

"Are you really just realizing this now?" Derf asked, popping up from his sheath. Alaric craned his head over his shoulder; asking the sword to further elaborate. He could wager a guess however… "Yeah, that thing you felt earlier, I mean a creature like you should recognize your own, right?"

Alaric's jaw clenched and his gaze returned dead ahead as he walked back outside, his hearth in his throat… it was a curious sensation however. He knew he should feel some degree of pity, some degree of empathy for Siesta's situation - for all intents and purpose, that _was _how he felt… at least up until a moment ago.

Alucard clenched his fist, it was one thing for a human to swept away by another human, animals would be animals after all. But for a vampire to steal away someone like _that _from him. Him! If there was one common rule amongst vampires, known by every generation and every blood tier, it was this; _do not poach_.

Alucard didn't care if this Count _Thot_ was an aristocrat, human aristocracy was a moot point in a vampire's world, generation and blood potency was all that mattered. If he was stronger than him, if he was faster than him, if he was older than him, than Alucard would have no choice but to yield. But that pride and arrogance that Alaric had tried to bury always found a way to resurface in Alucard. He was quite confident that this _Counts-for-nothing _was _not _on his level.

But the existence of this vampire in Halkegenia made Alucard realize one thing. The supernatural realm and vampire society existed here, in this pocket realm as well. Which meant if he wanted to make it anywhere within said society, he'd have to make a point.

He'd have to show Mott what happens when you steal from the Son of Dracula.


	6. Mott, Maid and the Blade

**17/11/2019: UPDATE - Added about 2k words to the end of the chapter to answer questions without waiting for the next chapter (Also to allow me to segway the story in the next chapter more easily)**

* * *

After coming to terms with what he was going to do, he had returned to the academy kitchen to ask Marteau for directions, which he then received. Now; he was here.

Alucard poked his head out from the shrubbery he hid in, observing Count Mott's estate in the distance. High walls and patrolling guardsmen protected the _good count's _villa. Both were trivial obstacles for one such as him. He donned his black arming coat and both swords were thrown over his back, lashed to him with brown leather straps.

"_Just remember…" _Alaric started to remind himself, but he was soon hushed, he didn't need his naive mortal side getting in the way of things. The mortal would have wanted to do things the hard way, diplomatic or stealthily. Yes he was going to apply a bit of stealth, but his mortal side probably wouldn't have the stomach for what he had to do here.

He crept through the bushes in the black of night, approaching the walls of Mott's villa, ducking through the trees that sprung out of the shrubs and made up a surrounding woodland around the estate. Once he had found his way to the treeline, he waited. He was nearly within striking distance of the guards patrol route, as the lightly armored man walked his monotonous path. It seemed that the guards thought this was just as boring as it looked, the passing guard didn't even bat an eyelash Alucard's direction. _"Wait… no, you're not- shut up!"_ Alucard shook his head.

Every fiber of the mortal in him told him not to do this, but he wasn't having any of it. He was pissed and relatively hungry so whatever the mortal wanted, it would take a backseat. Alucard waited for the guard to pass again before lunging out at the guard, tackling him to the ground as he dropped a superhumanly powerful fist into the guard's face. His fangs were at the guards neck, who had been knocked out cold, but Alucard didn't care, removing the threat here hadn't been his only goal.

Once the vampire had his fill, which had been considerable, Alucard stood back up, looking around to see if anyone had noticed his assault. He probably should have done that earlier, but he had gotten a little caught up in the moment. The rush of blood and frenzy of feeding had averted his mind to all precaution. It appeared he was in the clear. He'd bend back down and toss the now ghostly white, emaciated guard's corpse into the bushes he'd just left, then wipe the corner of his mouth. As much as part of him may object to such brutal methods, it felt good; it also provided a bit of useful information.

The taste of the guard's blood, it was off. It tasted great, though unlike usual, a mere mortal's blood was succulent, savory, akin to eating a nice juicy steak - at least that was the average taste. Some such as Kirche were definitely sweeter, like candy, while others were more sour and spicy or whatever have you. But it always had the same consistency, the same viscosity. The guard's blood had been… _heavier_, if that made sense. It ran darker, thicker too. That just confirmed his worries. Confirmed the nature of Mott.

These guardsmen were ghouls. Mortals fed the supernatural ichor of a vampire, binding them to the vampire's will. This sapped away their humanity, turning them into a degenerate version of a human; neither mortal, nor immortal. In olden times, they were a necessity for vampires to maintain their secrecy and security, before the days of daywalking enchantments and elixirs. Now, they were often viewed with suspicion, even among the supernatural community.

The only reason a ghoul need exist now, is if they had existed from ages past - or, some vampire was hatching their own nefarious plans - vampire cartels, criminal organizations or blood cults.

It did however come with benefits; the mortal imber would be stronger, faster, more durable and they could potentially live forever - as long as they continued drinking vampire blood on a specific, timely basis.

Of course, just one drink didn't turn a mortal into a ghoul, no it was a process. Typically it took three drinks - approximately a good litre for the math minded folk. The more blood they drank, the more dependant they would become, forming an addiction, until eventually, the mortal would reach a point where they would abandon their mortality and become a ghoul. Their life essentially revolving around the vampire that had claimed their mortality until their death… or if they themselves were to be turned into a vampire, but that's a whole other shtick.

"_Alright… so… they're all ghouls… awesome." _Alucard thought, returning to the wall around Mott's complex, creeping towards the gate and peeking around the corner, into the estate. Beyond were mazes of hedgerows on either side of a wide cobbled road that lead up to Mott's manor. Alucard could see guards crossing the road every now and then, on patrol.

Now, he could by all means, run right up the middle - probably alerting every guard in the compound - but Derf seemed to have another idea. The talking sword popped out of the sheath on Alucard's back. "Hey, buddy, you might want to stick to the hedges as you approach." suggested the sword.

Alucard raised a brow, but didn't bother canting his head; "Why's that?" he whispered, scanning the top of the manor for rooftop guards; there were none, just a few stone statues - gargoyles from the looks of it and before Derf even said it, he pieced it together.

"Those statues up on the roof ain't just statues, you get it?" replied the sword and for a moment Alucard felt like asking how the hell he knew that - he just put two and two together, this was a vampire's estate after all. But, then again, if the sword could detect supernatural creatures when nearby them, perhaps it wasn't a long shot that he could just _tell. _

Alucard decided, even if they weren't, to err on the side of caution and take the long way… he took a step back from the gates, turning to the wall in front of him. He took an additional three steps back from the wall before giving it a slight running start and jumping up to the top of the wall, grasping the top before quickly pulling himself up and over, tumbling to the ground below, yet managing to land on his feet with a cat's grace. Seemingly pleased, he couldn't help but crack a fanged grin before drawing the Germanian steel sword and starting to make his way through the hedge maze on the left of the complex.

The closer he _thought _he got to the manor, the more worried he got about sticking his head up above the hedges, making extra sure to keep his head down and avoid the guards; both animate and inanimate. The eagle-eye view the gargoyles got from the rooftop made it particularly difficult as they began to almost overlook him directly. Of course the actual ghoulish guardsmen didn't make it any easier. This time, he humored his mortal side and avoided killing any of the guards, instead, keeping out of sight and quiet as he could be. Utilizing his vampiric powers made that easy enough, muffling the sound he made and cloaking himself in shadows whenever he needed to pass directly by a guard. As much as he would have loved to just cleave his way through, there was nowhere to hide the bodies and that was sure to raise the alarm quickly.

After what felt like an eternity, Alucard managed to find his way through the hedge maze, to an exit that lead straight out into a side path around the edge of the manor, off the carriageway that ran down the middle of the estate grounds. There was only one problem; a guard was approaching the exit, coming straight up the path with manor walls and complex walls on either side of him, a thick patch of bushes lining the complex walls, with some vines running up it. Alucard ducked back behind the hedge before the guard saw him and readied his blade; there was no way around this guy. Sure he could use a cloak of shadows - effectively becoming invisible to the untrained eye - but that wouldn't keep him from knowing he was here if he bumped into him. He cocked his leg and knelt down slightly, lowering his blade, holding it down to the left, but angling the edge up diagonally, holding the blade with two hands.

Alucard silenced the mortal within him as the guard got closer until he saw the guard's right foot step through the maze exit. Once he was in striking distance, Alucard pushed off the ground with his cocked leg and swung his blade in a wide hewing upward strike that cleaved the guard's head off his shoulders in one fell strike. The motion almost looking like he was hitting a golf ball.

The head soared off the guard's shoulders and into the hedge, which worked for Alucard, the body slumping to the ground spurting blood from the point of decapitation. Alucard lowered his blade; it was nothing personal, he told himself to try and reassure his mortal side that what he was doing was necessary. But of course he'd never understand, the fool was naive, always thinking he could save everyone, but that just wasn't how the world worked. Even so, he felt a slight lump in his throat this time and he knew what, or rather _who _was causing it.

He ignored it, he had a goal and nobody, not even himself was going to keep him from achieving it. Alaric wouldn't admit it, but he wanted this as well, though perhaps for different reasons. Either way, Alucard knew this was personal for both of them in their own ways. Alucard would catch the guard before his body hit the ground, dragging his corpse towards the hedge that crawled up alongside the compound walls and tried to wedge the body as snuggly in there as he could. He tried his best, but just couldn't quite get the body to stay where he wanted it… he was wasting time. Eventually he figured it would do, the guard's leg was still sticking out but hopefully he could finish his objective before the corpse was found.

He'd made his way through the little side passage next to the manor, emerging behind the structure where an open pond took up a good chunk of the back yard - though calling it a yard would have been an injustice. It had to be at least several acres. He'd peer around the corner of the mansion as he emerged, kneeling down to make himself as small a silhouette as he could. There was a fancy marble porch with red tiling laid down towards the middle of the manor. Marble pillars raised up from the porch to hold up some kind of balcony above it, rimmed with fine white wooden railings. Alucard furrowed his brow, that may have been a way up. He doubted he could jump up the full- uh. He looked up and guessed that it was an approximate four stories tall. Three? Maybe, four? Probably not. But that balcony? Easy.

There were significantly less guards back here, Alucard counted maybe four, two of which were further down the yard towards the pond - though, maybe it was more apt to call it a lake? Alucard shook his head, rolling his eyes, whatever he thought, while they were busy doing _guard stuff _and _not _doing it _properly_ he'd slip past and jump- _"Why not just try the back door?" _Alaric asked.

Alucard found himself staring out at the two guards by the lake. He'd take leisurely blink as the idea just dawned on him. _"Shut up." _he thought back, emerging from his corner, using the shadows cast by the manor to remain in darkness, keeping low as he wove through the elaborate patio settings of the count. He was almost at the upper patio, that huge porch where the balcony stood above, when someone emerged from the back doors leading into the manor. _"Shit." _Alucard hissed in the back of his head as he ducked behind a nearby planter with a big old bush stuck in it, neatly trimmed and pruned into a sort of pine cone shape. The man wasn't dressed like any of the guards.

This man was dressed in all black leathers, his chest buttoned up as one side of his coat was pulled far across the other side, with a large nape encircling the back half of his neck. His jacket looked like some kind of noble's leather armor, the way it was embroidered with silver threat and the occasional gothic cross, though these crosses often has a tarnished look to them. His black hair was slicked back into a thin pony tail, showing off his creamy white forehead. At his side was a long thin sword, nestled within a formal looking black and white gothic scabbard. Alucard furrowed his brow, this man, he got a bad feeling from him. He then got a glimpse at the man's eyes. Red irises, red like you never saw red. Alucard ducked back behind the planter and cursed silently in the back of his head. For a moment Alucard wondered if this man was Mott himself…

Even if it was, Alucard had another goal in mind, one that overwrote his desire to putt Mott in his place; _I gotta find Siesta first_, he told himself. He needed to make sure he was okay, despite _every _fiber in his being wanting to lash out and thrash this man that may very well be the root cause of all this. The moment the man looked out the other direction, Alucard leapt up to the balcony, a good two stories above him, grabbing onto the railing and pulling himself over.

Once he'd rolled over the railing he sprung to his feet ready to punch out anyone that may have been up here, but thankfully, not a soul was present. Alucard sighed lightly, calming down a little bit, lowering his fists as he raised off his knees and onto his feet. He'd lightly step towards the double glass paned wooden doors, laying a hand on one of the knobs without much hesitation and trying the door out. It swung open without any resistance.

"Bud, that guy down there…" whispered Derf from Alucard's back. "He was-"

"I know!" Alucard hissed back. "Mott."

"Nah that wasn't Mott, a noble wouldn't dress like fancy bruiser." Derf replied, causing Alucard to hesitate. He'd enter the manor, standing at the top of what looked to be the third floor of the main entry hall. The top level was ringed with an almost golden wooden rail, with no way down to the bottom floor. He'd approach the railing, looking down to the bottom level where he saw an immaculate marble tiled floor, leading up to a wide staircase that lead to the second floor. Doors were on either side of the first flood entry hall, suits of armor lined it too, each looking rather plain and mundane. Though given this was a vampire's abode, those suits could just as easily suddenly animate and attack someone.

He'd look straight up at the chain that held up the chandelier that hung down around the second level, lighting up the lower levels while smaller wall mounted candles lit the third floor. He was sure there was a fourth floor here, but above him was only ceiling. "Then who was it?" he'd finally whisper in reply.

"No idea, but I can tell you that you and him ain't the only monsters here." Derf would quietly answer.

Alucard scoffed quietly under his breath, "Relax sword, this isn't my first intrusion into another vampire's lair." he'd comment, pushing off the railing to turn about, drawing his steel sword before selecting a random door to try out first. Now that he was out of view from the gargoyles on the roof, he didn't really mind making a little more noise. This place after all was full of guards and servants, a few footsteps shouldn't be reason for suspicion. Still, he was going to take things a little slow.

As he approached the first door he did a quick shoulder check to make sure nobody was around - there wasn't - before pressing his ear to the door, listening for evidence that anybody was on the other side. He was confident the way was clear, reaching for the brass knob, turning it and sliding the door ajar, sword kept out of view until he was sure the way was clear, incase someone on the other side spotted him. A drawn weapon would surely be cause for concern.

He passed through the door into what seemed to be some kind of side passage, not nearly as elaborate or fancy as the foyer he'd just left, with very little light. The candles that lined the sides of the hall were blown out, heavy draped were pulled over the windows to his left. The entire hall had something of a dank, dark feeling to it; as if whoever roamed these halls hated light. Which upon reflection, was almost assuredly true.

Alucard made certain to check for any places that traps or other security devices might be placed; statues that might animate and attack, tripwires, pressure plates, candles that might suddenly explode… yes that was a thing he'd encountered before. Was he being paranoid? Probably. But when intruding on another vampire's lair, caution could be life saving.

As he moved through the hall, sword held pointed up and ahead of him, holding the handle with both hands. At the end of the hall Alucard could spot another set of doors. He couldn't see any light through the sides of the door frame, so it looked like he'd be in for more of the same. He'd do as he had before, pressing against the door to ensure that he wasn't walking in on anybody and then, once certain he was clear, slowly opening the door and stepping inside.

It was then that he was treated to a surprise, this room wasn't another hall, but damn it was dark. Alucard shut his eyes for a moment, rousing his blood to provide himself with better night vision, opening his now vibrantly glowing red eyes, eyes that could easily been seen piercing through this darkness if someone else were to look at him. For him however, he was now able to see in muted colors where almost everything was grey with just hints of color. Scanning the room again, he'd confirm he was the only one in it.

Not a single shred of light was present within the room, though there were places that light might be created; a few candle sconces on the walls, a pair of tall candlesticks towards the rear of the room. He'd hesitantly sheath his sword, observing the bookcases that lined the right side of the room, most pressed firmly against the wall, while long tables lined the left, with sconces above and not a window in sight. In the middle of the room were a pair of just as long tables, topped with alchemical sets and things you'd expect to see in your stereotypical witch's hut. Jars with eyes and various body parts in them, weird charms and totems that to the untrained eye made no sense.

Alucard approached the table in the middle of the room, looking over what else was spread across it. There was the witchy chemistry set of course, but there were also a few tomes spread out, two of which were open, one with what looked to be some kind of wooden dowel in it to serve as a sort of bookmark.

Alucard would look over the open, marked book, curious to see what exactly the good count was interested in. His eyes scanned the first paragraph; which mentioned something about blood dilution and persistence through pure water. It wasn't the most well known weakness of the vampires, but water could actually prove quite a deterrent to some. It was first recorded that a vampire can't cross running water, which wasn't true, a vampire _could _cross running water… they just hated doing it. Why? Because due to water's purifying properties. Crossing water could be done no problem, it was when the vampire came into contact with water…

Fresh water was the least damaging, though it still hurt and was extremely uncomfortable to submerge in. It could be done, and wouldn't even cause superficial damage on any level, but it was not pleasant. Salt water was in the middle of the road, long term submersion in salt water could cause damage, though often it was just superficial, burning the skin after a while and causing a fair bit of pain and discomfort - which could be debilitating in some cases. Lastly was holy water, which unlike the last two, there was no building a resistance to it. Fresh and salt water could be overcome with repeated exposure and plenty of diligent, persistent training. Eventually a vampire could teach their body to ignore the pain from water, which for fresh was just fine, salt, eh could be a bit damaging but if you can overcome the pain, you can try to get out of it… holy? No, the vampire was screwed if they came into contact with that.

Alucard couldn't help but raise a brow at the tome's contents. Mott was trying to find a way to dilute vampire blood in water? That shouldn't have been possible, pure water would eventually neutralize all potency of the blood dropped into it. Vampire blood could not remain potent for long enough to be of any use in this form.

Alucard didn't understand what this was about. Maybe Mott was trying to find ways to dilute his blood to provide sustenance to more ghouls? Alucard shook his head, leaving the tome where it was before looking over the rest of the table, spotting what looked like an envelope, with the letter still inside. Sure enough, he'd reach over, seeing the seal had been broken. "Well, well Mott, up to some weird ass tricks I see. Lets see who your friends are shall we?" Alucard muttered to himself, flipping the envelope open and pulling the letter out.

He'd read the letter over, playing the words through in his head;

"_Kon'nichiwa Mott-Dono" _was the heading, causing Alucard to furrow his brow, Japanese? He'd look further down the letter, the rest of it being written in French. Though already he was drawing a conclusion. _"It has been several moons since we last spoke, I do hope you remember the request I gave you. Your contributions to our cause have not gone unnoticed, but in order for me to bestow upon you the promotion that you so desire, I require a test of loyalty. This request I gave you, is in essence, this test. It has been many years since I last bestowed the gift to a mortal I deem worthy of uplifting to join our family proper. In the Tristainian Magical Academy, you will find a young, black haired maid by the name of Siesta. You will bring her to me, unharmed, untouched and unaltered. I hope I made myself clear. Once you have accomplished this, then and only then may we move onto greater things. I hope you will remain as staunch a supporter of me in the future, your insight into the Tristainian court will go a long way for our next move._

_Best of luck, Daimyo Sakimoto." _at the bottom of the letter, was some kind of stamp or seal… probably some kind of official or formal finishing touch.

That didn't sound good. On top of this guy sounding like he was straight out of Japan's Sengoku period, he also wanted Siesta virtually kidnapped and was looking to undermine the Tristainian throne. "Shit…" Alucard muttered under his breath. He was keeping this. He didn't care if anyone noticed it missing, this would be damning evidence. Better he have it than risk it being destroyed.

He then tensed up, one of his slightly pointed ears that remained hidden under his long hair twitching. He peered over her shoulder towards the door behind him. Someone was approaching. Alucard furrowed his brow, he wasn't sure if he was ready to be discovered quite yet. He scanned the room frantically, looking for a place he might hide but came up empty. So, seeing it as his only option, he ducked under the table in the middle of the room and cloaked himself in shadows, rendering himself invisible. Hopefully there wasn't anything stronger than candlesticks in here to illuminate the room, otherwise there went his invisibility.

A few moments later the door creaked open and in stepped a pair of legs, with the long tail of a black coat draped behind them. Alucard dared a peek out from under the table, so long as he didn't make any sudden or quick movements, his invisibility would hold. He'd peer up to get a better look at the man - it was the one from outside, the Not-Mott vampire.

The man took several steps into the room, pausing as he scanned the room, though without so much as looking down. Alucard then noted him furrow his brow and slowly receded back under the table. He could hear him take a loud sniff. _"Shit…"_

"_Maybe that's an indicator that I need a bath?" _Alaric thought, which not only wasn't helping the situation, but also rendered Alucard all the more annoyed. "_Shut up!" _he mentally bellowed back.

The man took a tentative step forward, just in front of Alucard… he was totally going to look under the table, he knew it. But no… much to his surprise the man seemed to tense up himself and he'd swiftly walk around the table, heading to the back of the room where the empty fireplace was, setting his hand atop the handle of the iron poker that rested within a sort of rack next to the fireplace. He'd give it a tug to the side and the fireplace would grind aside, swiveling open to reveal a secret passageway. "_Ah… I should have known…" _Alucard thought to himself. Secret passages in a vampire lair? Check one cliche off the checklist.

Alucard would wait a moment, letting the fireplace shut back up, then give it a couple minutes longer before he emerged from his hiding place, moving towards the fireplace and tugging that very same poker, opening the passageway. He'd move within, but once through, stepping into that dark, lightless passageway, he had no idea how to close it. The passageway beyond was made of hard stone bricks, large ones, like you'd expect castle walls to be made from. He wasn't planning on staying much longer. He'd find Siesta and give Mott a thrashing and be gone.

As he moved through the narrow passageway in complete darkness, he was forced to illuminate his eyes, which glowed a fierce red in the darkness, but allowed him perfect night vision, able to see just as clearly as if he were in daylight, though without color as everything was rendered in shades of grey. He'd eventually find himself needing to turn his night vision off however as he approached what seemed to be just a sliver of light peeking in from ahead.

As he moved forward, he found that there were small slits carved into the right side of the wall, curious, he'd raise a brow and move forward to peek through them, wondering what purpose they served. He'd then tense up, not _displeased _with what he saw, but… conflicted.

"_I'm not sure how to feel about this…" _he thought. Although Alaric remained silent he was pretty sure how he'd find what he saw as he peered through the view slits into what was clearly some kind of wide open bathroom with a large pool in the middle, it was like some combination of a sauna and bath as he felt moisture wafting through the slits and the room was slightly steamy.

And as it stood, the room was occupied by several servant girls, most of whom were in the buff and of varying _sizes_. Most of them were rather busty, but there were a few that weren't. Alucard found himself staring at one busty brown haired chick that was standing at the edge of the pool, fully exposed, looking down and talking to another two ladies. Finally however, his conscious got the better of him, yes he still had it. It was called Alaric.

"_Knock it off, you're better than this!" _Alaric shouted at him. Now Alucard was by no means the monster that the two of them feared, though he did consider himself the superior persona, one not afraid of his vampyric nature nor afraid of sin. Even still Alaric was right, this was beneath him. He'd crack a smirk pulling away from the view port, shaking his head with a slight scoff. _"Sometimes I dunno about that," _he'd remark back, _"But I can say this… this Mott is some pathetic mother-fucker if this is how he gets his jollies." _

On that the two could agree. Alucard turned to move on, though as he moved on it became quite clear that this Mott was some disturbed piece of work. Alucard came across more and more view ports that he must have used to peep on his servant girls. The more he saw the more disgusted he became, which considering Alucard, wasn't easy. Though as he neared another set of view ports, he could hear voices coming from beyond. He dared a peek through this next set…

"-Understood? Bring this message to Lord Sakimoto. I'll be along shortly afterwards with his prize." someone said just as Alucard pressed his eyes against the view slit. Within there were three individuals, the coat wearing dude from before, a shorter haired, moustached man and a maid kneeling between the two. Siesta! They were in some kind of _living _room if you could call it that, with a roaring fireplace at one end of the room, several sofas and rows of bookshelves pressed against the room's walls.

Every unliving fiber of Alucard's vampyric being wanted to barge in there and show them who was superior, to let them both know not to cross him for stealing from _his _domain. Being of the older, more territorial generations of vampires… but Alaric convinced him otherwise. As powerful as he thought - _knew - _he was, there was Siesta's life at risk here. That and Alaric was worried that five-hundred plus years in torpor might have dulled his capabilities, but Alucard thought otherwise, though understood his hesitation. After a year spent in the mortal world, he was certain most of his powers were back.

He'd then shifted his eyes to the side and stifled a groan as Alaric reminded him; _"So says the guy who couldn't defeat a twig." _referring to his encounter with a certain spriggan the other night. Something his pride would never let him live down. He'd shake his head slightly before returning his gaze to the peephole.

"Understood my lord." said the man in the coat, turning to leave, the door slamming shut behind him. Mott then turned his attention to Siesta, gazing down at her. Though he'd simply stare at her for a couple minutes before finally speaking. He'd kneel down, grasping her chin, raising her gaze up at him. Alucard could see it in her eyes, she was terrified. She wasn't shaking or anything, but there was a degree of submission that he was familiar with, that he'd been on the receiving end of. The submission that came with fear, the submission that pleaded with the one above them not to be hurt, however silent it was.

"Now then, my Siesta. I don't know what my lord wants with you… but you see… I'm tired of taking orders from him." he'd remark, gripping Siesta more firmly, her fingers wrapping around either side of her cheeks, squishing them a little. "So…" he'd resume, trailing off as he removed his hand from her face before doing the not-so-unthinkable, but it still caught Alucard off guard.

Alucard was forced to bite his tongue as Mott swiped his hand across Siesta's neck, his nails having elongated into small claws which slashed across her throat. Siesta's eyes went wide as she emitted a high cry of shock, her hands bolting up and grasping at her throat as her neck was slit. "N-" she'd start only to be shoved to the ground.

"There… won't be long now Siesta, once the life has seeped from your body, you shall be mine wholly." he'd remark, reaching a bloodied finger up to his mouth, licking it. Alucard has seen enough, he had to move now or Siesta was done for… he'd look to his left, further down the passageway. Dead end. Or was it? There had to be an exit. Coat guy had gotten out of here after all. He'd rush down the passageway, slamming against the dead end, hands fondling and frisking for any sign of an exit. Nothing. He'd furrow his brow, how the hell was he getting in there?! Wait.

He'd return to the view slits… really any size of hole would work but. It was going to take a moment. He'd peer through one last time… seeing Mott just standing there, watching Siesta bleed out. He was going to be noticed before he could fully manifest on the other side, he knew it…

"Count Mott!" someone bellowed from outside the chambers. He then saw the Count roll his eyes.

"What?!" he'd bellow back.

"Come quick! We have an emergency!" they would reply… Alucard smirked slightly. A thought entered him head; they probably found one of the bodies he'd left. Good.

The Count groaned, looking back to Siesta. "We'll finish this once I return, alright dear?" he'd remark, turning to leave with a slight smirk… meanwhile all Siesta could do was whimper, tears in her eyes as she clenched her hands around her throat in a vain attempt to stem the bleeding. Though the moment Mott left the room, Alucard was on it. He'd shift his form into that of a cloud of mist and start to feed himself through the small vision ports.

It took a while, a good ten or fifteen seconds to make it through before he was able to fully reform on the other side of the wall. Once reformed, he peered down towards Siesta, was she still alive? She was, and she'd taken notice of his supernatural feat.

"S-sir A-" she tried, having difficulty speaking for obvious reasons.

Alucard slid down towards her, looking over her, furrowing his brow. He had no medical equipment or training, but there was one thing he could do to keep her alive. Her humanity would be sapped, but she'd retain her mortality.

"Siesta… bear with me here alright?" he'd ask, "I can save you, but you need to trust me." he'd state, getting a nod from her. Alright. He'd trace his tongue along one of his fangs before biting down onto it with a slight wince of pain. He felt his mouth fill with his dark ichor as he leaned down towards Siesta's face before pressing his lips against her, his tongue parting her lips and funneling some of his vampyric blood into her mouth.

She'd recoil and try to push him away as she got the initial taste of his blood, but it was only for that one moment as she grasped his head with both hands, having let go of her neck… before pulling his head down into her, seeming to now enjoy the taste of him and his blood.

Once he was certain she'd gotten a _healthy _portion of it, he'd pull his lips from her. He'd peer down towards her neck… the bleeding has stopped, though her neck and chest were blood stained, as were her hands. He'd shut the wound that he'd inflicted upon himself. "Alright, now we need to get out of-"

Siesta would suddenly grimace, emitting a strained groan as if suddenly in pain again. She'd cover her mouth and roll over, pressing her forehead into the floor. "Siesta?!" Alucard would exclaim, jumping back and up to his feet. He hadn't turned her, he knew he hadn't, it wasn't that simple. He also hadn't given her enough to render her a ghoul either, that took both longer and more blood. It didn't happen immediately.

Alucard shook his head, he had no idea what was going on. In all his years he'd never experienced something like this. As if his current situation wasn't bad enough, he'd been so concerned with what was going on before him that he hadn't heard the footsteps outside until the door swung open and someone stepped in. Alucard snapped his gaze towards the door to see the short haired Count standing there, looking none to pleased. "So… it was you!" he'd bark.

Alucard would stare back at the Count for a second before reaching back and drawing his Germanian sword. "Yep." he'd remark, holding the longsword in both hands. He wasn't in the mood for conversation.

The Count scoffed and reached to his side, drawing a smaller, thinner blade akin to rapier. His free hand flicked forward, a wand appearing from his sleeve which he grasped the base of, flipping it around to hold it properly.

The blade he wasn't as worried about, but that wand had to go. Alucard's eyes briefly shone red as he infused his blood with a burst of celerity, leaping over one of the sofas and lunging for Mott with a slash of his blade which was dodged by Mott as he ducked to the side, thrusting his own blade towards Alucard which he swatted aside with his arm, covered by his thick gambeson's sleeve.

It wasn't the best armor but it was something, which was more than could be said about Mott's attire which provided no protection at all. Now, with only one hand on his blade, Alucard would strike back with an overhanded arching swing which Mott tried to dodge, only to find Alucard's blade slicing through his wrist, severing his hand, dropping it and his rapier to the ground.

Mott would kick Alucard in the chest, surprisingly strong for one who appeared so slight, knocking him back as Mott grimaced, flicking his wand towards the briefly stunned Alucard. For a moment Alucard feared a gout of flame was to be sent his way, but it was only slightly better. Instead a spout of water rushed from the interior of a potted plant's pot, being pulled from the soil within and launched at Alucard, dousing him completely with fresh water.

Alucard tensed up upon being struck, the water making his muscles seize up for a moment as the shock ran through his spine and he found himself slowing down drastically, the water purging the amplified speed from him and preventing further enhancement.

While he was dealing with this, stunned for the moment, Mott leaned down and picked his hand back up, pressing it against where it had been cut off, rousing his own blood to mend the wound and stick it back on, skin meeting skin and mending itself, bone fusing with bone. "A valiant attempt child but without your powers, you're just a mere mosquito." Mott remarked, using one of the more popular derogatory terms for vampires in the mortal realm.

Alucard shook his head, flailing his arms slightly to shake the water off him, trying to overcome the discomfort he was feeling. It didn't matter if he was silenced or not, he was certain of his sword skills, which had to be superior to Mott's. He'd grit his teeth at Mott's remark, he wasn't so much offended by the use of _mosquito_, but by Mott's assumption that he was the elder one here.

"Cute." Alucard would remark. "You'd think that one such as yourself would understand the intricacies of our society, but no, no respect for your elders… I'll teach you what happens when you poach."

This statement was enough to evoke a bit of curiosity from Mott who raised his brow. "Elder?" he'd mutter. Though he didn't remain curious for long as Alucard seized the opportunity to strike… but it had been a ploy. Mott sidestepped Alucard's strike, grasping him by the wrist, twisting it, causing him to drop his steel sword before kicking the other vampire center mass, sending him sprawling out the door with such speed that he flew over the railing and landed on a set of stairs below, that lead right up to the floor he'd just fallen from. He heard a slight crack as he landed on the steps, something being broken.

Due to his soggy state he was in no position to mend it, still silenced.

"Bud! Draw me!" Derf remarked, poking out of his scabbard.

Alucard scoffed, "What? You?" he'd groan, rolling over, trying to get up before emitting a slight yelp and rolling down the remaining steps to the first floor, sliding onto the marbled floor below. "Ugh…" he'd sigh, starting to push himself up. "ACK!" he'd exclaim, finding a boot pressed against his back before he could fully get up, being shoved back down to the floor.

"It's pathetic really… the elder being beaten by the younger." Mott remarked. "I'm sure you had some elaborate plan really, but that's the thing with the older generations… you're too arrogant."

Alucard had to laugh, despite his position. "That's rich!" he'd remark trying to swat at Mott's ankles to get him off… but the Count seemed to have hardened himself, strengthening his blood to keep Alucard down as for as much as he tried, he couldn't get him off him.

"I wonder if I should keep you around… I've heard that if a younger generation feeds on the blood of the older, they can become more powerful…" Mott mused. He wasn't wrong, the older generation a vampire, the more inherently powerful they'd be able to use their powers more frequently and for longer durations, but have more dire cravings, their thirst being more powerful and harder to resist than younger generations. "Maybe then I ca-" he start only to be cut off. "Ghh…" Alucard felt the foot start to pull off him, which he seized, turning about and grasping the base of Mott's foot to push him off him as the Count began to lose balance.

Though much to Alucard's surprise was what was causing the Count to lose balance. A steel blade protruding from the Count's belly about a foot, dripping with his dark blood. Beyond him, a grimacing Siesta who'd taken up Alucard's steel sword, caught up with the two and run the count through. "Sies-" he started, shaking his head, focus. He'd shove the Count off him and scamper back away from him, springing up onto his feet and reaching over his shoulder to draw Derf… the blade that he still felt strange wielding.

The steel sword to the back however wasn't enough to keep the good Count down as he elbow checked Siesta in the face, knocking her back _hard_, slamming her against the wall with enough force to crack it. Alucard tensed up for a moment, "NO!" he'd exclaim about to strike at Mott in rage, thinking he'd just offed Siesta. No human could survive such an impact… but to his surprise, as Siesta slide towards the ground she'd raise her arm to her mouth, wiping her lips, her brow furrowed and her eyes holding a certain _pissed off _look to them. Then he realized something… her eyes, they were red. Not as vibrant as his own, but they had been black before… this was different…

He didn't have time to consider what was going on, dealing with Mott was priority one. With Derf in hand, he'd slash at Mott who retreated into the middle of the entry hall… the racket however had caused enough of a stir to attract a pair of ghoulish guardsmen who rushed to their master's defence. Both of them were equipped with some type of polearm, similar to halberds. Even if they were ghouls, Alucard didn't see them as much of a threat, not compared to Mott. Their choice of weapons didn't help them either as one stabbed at Alucard with his halberd like a spear, which Alucard was able to deftly parry before stepping past the blade, out of slashing or stabbing range. He'd then plunge his blade into the guard's chest, the mail armor of the guard doing little to stop his powerful stab.

The guard coughed up a mouthful of blood before Alucard slid him off the blade, the guard still not dead as he tried to punch the vampire… which landed, slugging Alucard in the face, but blunt trauma was nothing to him as he just took the punch without so much as trying to dodge. "Aww that's adorable." he'd remark before swiftly pulling the blade from the guard and giving a wide arcing horizontal swing which came around at the neck, lopping the man's head clean off.

No qualms about killing this time, Alaric was silent. Alucard meanwhile gave the use of his powers a try, seeing if they would respond again, thankfully, they did. He'd hit up that celerity again, picking the pace of things back up as he deftly sidestepped the second guard's halberd swipe as if it were moving through molasses. He'd take a step forward, slugging the guard in the face with Derf's pommel, crushing his nose and most of his face, caving it in, killing him.

Just Mott and him again… and Siesta, if she was able. He dared a glance over his shoulder to see her step towards him, brow still furrowed. She was no swordswoman, so her grip on the steel blade was haphazard at best - she possessed no stance, holding the blade at her side, but pointed up, towards Mott. "Alright…" Alucard mused, "Lets kick his ass." he'd remark, starting the final attack.

He'd lunge forward towards Mott, with a stab which was swatted aside by Mott, though the blade did nick his arm, causing the Count to scream out in pain as the wound smoldered and smoked. Alucard raised a brow, but was unable to ask any questions as Siesta followed in on his flank, slashing the steel blade across Mott's shoulder, leaving a good hack across it, blood pouring from the wound. Mott did his past to retaliate, but the nick to his wrist appeared to be causing him too much pain as he tried to raise his wand hand, which shook violently. Before he could get a spell off however, Alucard struck, hacking his hand off again. This strike however left the Count stunned, as his handless wrist smoked, the ichor that oozed from the wound almost appearing to boil. "AAHH!" the Count screamed, the pain becoming unbearable.

It seemed the Count was all talk when it came down to it. Alucard wasn't feeling any sense of pity or remorse, not when hacking his hand off the first time, nor the second time. Nor was he feeling any sort of mercy when he took the opportunity at the Count's stunning pain to plunge his blade into the Count's chest.

Mott would tense up, raising his good hand up to Alucard's face, clawing at his cheek. "You- have no idea- what-" his clawed fingers drawing blood from Alucard's face, but before he could get any further, in came an upwards swipe from Siesta, narrowly missing Alucard's face, chopping Mott's other hand clean off. Alucard didn't even let the Count scream this time, plunging the blade further into his chest.

"Just. Die." he'd growl, drawing the blade from the count, about to deliver to coup-de-grace to his neck as he'd done with the guard from before, but found it unnecessary. He'd lower his blade as specks of dust started to waft off the Count, the ends of his arms turning to ash as he fell to his knees, staring down at the floor before starting to collapse, his body rapidly turning to ash. He was little more than a pile of soot on the floor before his body even met it.

Alucard would tilt his head back exhaling sharply, raising a hand to wipe the blood from his cheek before turning his head back down towards the ash pile on the floor.

Alucard sighed slightly… looking over his shoulder at Siesta, who appeared to be coming down from her rush. "Siesta?" he'd mutter, looking her over. She possessed red eyes, akin to that of a vampire's… but unlike him she was panting heavily, appearing slightly tired, he could see a pair of small fangs behind her lips, causing him to wonder if he'd actually turned her. But that would have been impossible… the only way she could have transformed so quickly was if-... it then dawned on him. She wasn't a ghoul, she wasn't a vampire. Not quite.

"Siesta…" he started, finally starting to piece the clues together, where her family had come from, the Japanese Vampire that wanted her… "You're… a Dhampir?" she had to be, part mortal, part vampire… his blood having caused her dormant vampyric nature to surface. He almost felt bad, many Dhampir went half their lives not knowing their true heritage. Especially if they were raised mortal.

Siesta didn't respond, raising a hand, pointing towards the end of the hallway… Alucard raised a brow, looking down towards the door. He wasn't sure how she'd gotten past the guards, but she probably had the means, given she was actually a noble and what not. "L-Louise?" he'd ask, Alucard starting to take a backseat. He'd shake his head, looking around at the damage, at the bloodied Siesta and himself. Alaric would raise a hand. "I can explain. This… isn't as bad as it looks." he'd purse his lips. "Okay it's pretty bad, but I can still explain."

He wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there, but Louise simply stood there in shock, eyes wide at what she saw. "Y-you better…" she'd whimper, sounding quite terrified, her expression performing some kind of emotional gymnastics as she tried to hide her terror, her eye twitching.

"W-we should get out of here…" Louise remarked. Alaric idly nodded. For once, he fully agreed with her.

"I'll explain on the way back. Siesta… you're going to need to sit in on this." he'd add, looking back at the Dhampiric maid, getting a nod from her. Even in his more sober state, with Alucard taking a backseat, Alaric knew killing Mott had been for the best, he couldn't let this underground Vampire society undermine Tristain's crown. Assuming it hadn't already…

Either way, he, Louise and Siesta were going to be having a long talk on the way back. He - and she - had some explaining to do.

And some explaining would be done. Though the trip back to the academy was done in relative silence, each involved party probably contemplating the questions they wanted to ask. Trying to guess what one another's questions would have been and coming up with answers. It had been one hell of a trip back to the academy.

"It's true..." Siesta muttered upon their return to the academy. Now that she'd had time to cool down so to speak, from her infusion of Vampire blood, her eyes returned to their former color… the only hint that anything had changed with her was her slightly elongated canines, which were only half the length of a full vampire's. "My ancestor, my great by five generations was a Vampire."

The three had retreated up to Louise's room upon returning to the academy, away from any potential prying eyes. Alaric nodded slightly at Siesta's words, thinking back to what he'd seen just outside Tarbes and what that old man had said. "How many years back does he date?" he asked.

"Not sure on the actual date, but it's been over a hundred years since he came here." Siesta replied, "Why?"

Alaric raised a hand to his chin in thought, starting to idly pace around the foot of the bed, Louise and Siesta sitting on it on either side. "Just… trying to put the pieces together." he replied, he wasn't sure of anything yet, but if her grandfather dated back that long ago… he wondered what connection he might have to the Leshy in the forest that he'd run into. A spirit that had apparently only started becoming a problem just over a century ago, according to the old man. Was it just a coincidence? Alaric wasn't so sure.

"Let me take a guess, that manor up on the plateau overlooking Tarbes. That's where he resides?" Alaric asked, getting a silent stare from Siesta, before ultimately she gave him a slight nod. "Do you know him at all?"

Siesta again shook her head. "No. Members of my family, the direct descendants specifically always ended up going missing at some point, usually in their early twenties or thirties. My father said it was him summoning those of his line to the manor to receive their inheritance, whatever that meant. Eventually even he went missing and I'd lived with my mother and her relatives in the meantime, with my younger brothers and sisters." she explained. "I'd always expected that I'd end up going up there at some point… but…" she trailed off.

Alaric knew of this form of siring, a hereditary lineage, vampires that only embraced those of their direct bloodline. There wasn't anything really special about it, though it suggested that the head of the enacting bloodline had something of a superiority complex. Which to be fair, wasn't uncommon amongst high ranking vampires.

"Well, that answers part of one question…" Alaric would muse, glancing over at Louise, "Though, before I throw another heavy hitter, I gotta know, how the hell did you find me?"

Louise scoffed slightly, going silent for a moment, only continuing when Alaric cocked a brow, waving a hand at her urging her to speak up. "I asked around at breakfast, nobody knew, but apparently one of the serving staff overheard me and suggested that I speak to the head chef… he told me you'd asked about Count Mott… so I put two and two together." she explained.

Alaric sighed quietly. "Alright… fine…" he'd then shake his head. He didn't like the idea of Louise just blindly rushing in like that without knowing what she could have been getting herself into. "Why though?"

Louise furrowed her brow; "Because I was worried! I didn't want you getting into trouble!" she barked back. She'd then lower her gaze, "I just, well… didn't expect to find you killing a Tristainian noble." she'd tack on, pausing for a while, then resuming; "You're lucky you saved that note." she remarked, pointing to the letter that rested on her side table, the one that Alaric plucked from Mott's secret chamber. "Otherwise I don't think I would have believed you."

"That's reassuring…" Alaric remarked, unenthused by Louise's words, such confidence she had in him… "So, that being said," he started up again; "Would that be enough to incriminate Mott?" he asked.

Louise raised a hand to her chin. "If we can get it into the hands of the right people…" she mused, nodding idly as she spoke, removing her hand from her chin with a snap of her fingers, turning to fully face Alaric from her bed, shooting him a troubling grin. She'd spread her lips, giving him a toothy smile, "As is so happens, I know just how to do that!" she'd remark with withheld excitement, causing Alaric to wonder what she had planned. "Which reminds me!" she exclaimed, jabbing a finger at him.

"I want you to come up with something cool within the next couple days!" she'd exclaim, "The familiar exhibition is going to be starting soon and I want you to blow everyone's socks off- that is, without y'know… showing what you are." she'd add, causing Alaric to just stare back at her in surprise.

His jaw would slide down a bit as he processed what she was asking of him, his red eyes shifting towards Siesta who had this mildly apathetically amused look on her face. "What?" he groaned at her, in a slight, whiny tone, before redirecting his attention back at Louise; "You wanna run that past me again?"

"You heard me!" Louise barked with a huff.

Alaric groaned audibly. "Fine, fine… I suppose ensuring Tristain's safety can wait till after the exhibition…" he remarked, unimpressed by Louise's priorities.

"Hey! It's all covered. Don't worry about it!" she yelped back, voice going shrill as she began to get fed up with his attitude.

"Well, uh-" Siesta started, sliding off Louise's bed; "If that's all here, I'll just be going…" she'd mutter, slipping between Alaric and the foot of the bed, walking towards the door. Nobody stopped her.

Alaric shook his head at Louise, before calling to Siesta with a; "G'night." and re-addressing Louise. "Is it now?" he asked.

"Yes, it is, you just worry about making me look good in a couple days!" Louise shot back. "Now go to sleep."

Alaric sighed once again, something he was becoming accustomed to doing in Louise's presence. "I will in a bit." he muttered, walking towards the window as Louise tucked herself in, blowing out her candles. "I just gotta talk to Derf for a moment, I'll be back in like ten minutes." he didn't even wait for Louise's response, which probably would have been shrill and interruptive, ignoring any sound that she'd emit and grabbing onto the top of the window before leaping up around it pulling himself up, climbing the medieval style stonework up to the tower's roof, which wasn't too far up. In hindsight he could have just bat-formed and flown up, but after his fight with Mott, he was quite drained and didn't want to use up any more of his blood reserves to use his powers.

Once atop the tower, he turned about, sitting on the roof, hands planted behind his back as he looked out at the darkened courtyards of the academy for a moment, before turning his gaze skyward, up towards the innumerable amount of stars that peppered the night sky.

"This is bullshit…" he muttered, before moving onto the real topic he wanted to bring up; "Derf."

The sword would poke itself out of the sheath on Alaric's back; "What's up bud?" he asked, the runes lighting up as he spoke.

"Back when we fought Mott… I mean, aside from being able to speak, it's clear you're no ordinary sword." he mused, "I have to ask, what's so special about you other than that."

The sword chuckled; "Oh now you express interest." Derf jabbed, though lighthearted in nature. "I'm a lot older than you think bud. As I've told you, Gandalfr has always been my partner, right now that's you. But I was forged by the first one in existence. She was an Elf you see, she knew forging techniques that have since been lost to the ages…" Derf explained. "I was made to combat an ancient threat to Halkenginia. Forged deep in the Elven lands from a special elven Silver-Steel Alloy. Hard as mithril but with the monster slaying properties of silver."

Alaric furrowed his brow, nodding idly in understanding; "So that's why I feel so strange wielding you." he muttered. It also made sense as to how Derf was able to so easily slay Mott; this special Silver alloy he was made from would have made him especially deadly to the supernatural, more so if they were undead or hellish.

"Well that's not all, I'm sure you've noticed the runes on me." Derf added, getting Alaric to nod along. "Right, well Elves can use magic no problem without wands, but my creator got the idea to incorporate magic with weapons. The runes allow me to interact with virtually all forms of magic. Now that can be as basic as deflecting magic bolts lobbed at you, to redirecting magical spells and even channeling the wielder's own." Derf finished.

Alaric raised both brow in surprise, "So… I can use magic on top of my own vampyric powers?" he asked.

"No, no, no… well, kinda. See, how to put this lightly… uuuhhh, I've been dormant for quite a while bud. I'm not as strong as I used to be." said Derf, causing Alaric to sit up and draw the sword, watching the runes light up a bright blue as he spoke, blinking with each syllable. "Watch." Derf would pause and all five of his runes would light up; a fiery red, a cool deep blue, a vibrant green, a shocking yellow and finally, a dark mysterious purple which pulsed between dark and bright. However of these runes, only the red one managed to remain on as the other four faded away. "I'm not the blade I once was. So unless you can use the other elements at your own leisure, I can only inherently provide you with fire."

Alaric pursed his lips, another reason he may have felt uncomfortable wielding Derf. Fire and Vampires didn't mix. "I see. So, is there any way to fix your missing runes?" he asked.

"Not that I know of, you'd have to ask my original creator.. And haha… for obvious reasons, that's no longer possible. Unless you can speak to the dead." Derf replied with a slight hint of humor, which was alleviating to the stressed out vampire, who cracked a smirk.

"Not at will…" Alaric remarked, with a single shake of his head. "Though on that note… I may have an idea." he muttered.

"For fixing me?" Derf asked. Alaric scoffed, mildly annoyed.

"I wish. No… for Louise's stupid exhibition." he muttered. He'd sling Derf back over his shoulder, slotting him back in his scabbard. "By the night, I fuckin' hope someone's looking for me. I need some damn sanity back in my life." he groaned before starting to climb back down into Louise's room. Sure, somebody back in the mortal realm would have noticed him missing by now, surely someone was looking for him.

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**As per usual, reviews, faves and follows will mean more updates. Though on that note, I apologize for the lack of uploads, life's been taking it's toll on me since the move. Made things difficult. I'll start work on the next chapter immediately and hopefully have another upload ready before the month's end.**


	7. Terra Superno

**Just a heads up, I updated the last chapter (adding about 1-2k words at the end only about a few days after initially updating it) so that it flows a bit better into this one. So those who viewed it initially may wanna just go check on the last few paragraphs, if you're not up to speed.**

**(I'll put this out there now, there is almost no FOZ content in this chapter, the entire chapter takes place in _our _world. To clear up some confusion.)**

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The bell rang, signalling the end of school for not just the day, but the week. Ah friday, the day that almost all of them looked forward to. For the pink haired Jennifer Snow however, it wasn't so sweet. She slid out of her chair, without bothering to tuck it in, slinging her back pack out from under her desk and over her shoulder. She moved as if automated, not paying attention to where she stepped, bumping into her classmates as they filed out the door into the school hallways.

The halls were akin to your typical western school, though this particular campus had more in common with a university or college campus than a mere high school. The hallways were standardized enough though, albeit lacking rows of lockers like most schools. As she pushed through the crowds, she pulled her zip-up sweater further over her shoulders as it had begun to slip down one of her shoulders due to the angle of her pack. Under her lime green sweater she wore a pink cropped t-shirt; short sleeves and an exposed midriff. Meanwhile below she donned plain light blue denim pants of the skinny variety. Her hair was dyed pink though her fringes both at the tips of her shoulder length hair and up towards her roots showed her natural chocolate brown hair color.

"Hey! Jenny!" someone called out; one of her friends from outside her usual circle; Khali. "See you at practice!" the middle-eastern girl called out before being devoured by the crowd of students making their way outside. Jenny smirked and rolled her eyes, though she wasn't quite feeling it right now, she couldn't just ditch practice; she was team captain and center after all. What sort of example would that set if she bailed.

Once she reached the foyer, the crowd thinned out considerably as students were able to pass through the open room, past the glass walls and doors outside to the cobbled campus, spots of green spread out through the campus. Small hills of grass placed around campus, potted trees and bushes decorating the paths that lead through the campus, roads splitting the walkways in half as the occasional car would slowly drive through the school grounds at hardly over a walker's pace.

As she headed towards the gymnasium she spotted a group of middle school aged students off in one of the green clearings, standing underneath one of the trees that decorated the sides of the paths. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was clear they were interested in one of their friends, standing around her as she waved a small stick around… wait. One of the kids was holding out a plastic water bottle with the top cut off as the kid with the stick flicked it towards the open bottle, suddenly filling it with water from nothing. Jenny snickered; just some young wizard showing off for his friends.

This sort of thing was fairly normal, magic in the mortal world had become relatively accepted at the turn of the 19th century. That being said, while magic was more accepted, people were still apprehensive about supernatural creatures. There were those who were considered harmless; such as _enhanced _humans like wizards and other magic users, certain types of Faefolk which encompassed your typical fairies, to Satyrs or Nymphs, and Divine creatures like Angels… to mythological creatures; Gnomes and Dwarves from Pagan mythology came to mind as they were pretty much just smaller humans.

Though, those of a more bestial nature, while perhaps benevolent, still often hide their true forms under glamor guises, such as the Egyptian Sphinx or Japanese Kitsune, using these guises to adopt a human appearance. This served as a double sided blade however, as this technique was also used by those who were considered far from harmless; Vampires, Werewolves, Sirens, Demons and the like.

Jenny managed to keep pace; a light jog, making her way across the campus towards the gymnasium. Ducking inside, through the automatic sliding doors. She'd rummage through her left sweater pocket, pulling out her student ID, flashing it to the woman behind the counter, pushing through a rotating gate and through the facility. She walked through the hallway, glass lined one side of the hallway which below revealed the swimming pool section of the facility. There was also an acrobatic section, weight lifting area and, where she was headed, rink. She could feel it getting a little cooler as she approached it.

Jenny dipped into the girl's changing room, already filled with several of her teammates, finding her locker; 34. She'd pull her key from her pocket, attached to a ring with several other keys jingling as she raised her hand towards the lock, opening her locker up. She'd then change into her jersey and uniform, grabbing her helmet from the top of her locker, then tucking her hair under her jersey before putting it on. "Glad you could make it Jenny!" remarked one of her teammates. "You good? You seemed pretty _bleh _during math." they remarked.

Jenny smirked and shook her head, "It's _math_, can you _blame _me?!" she quipped back with a chuckle. That wasn't entirely false, but there was definitely more to it than that.

She wore the dark red and blue jersey of her school's home team, sharing the same number as her locker emblazoned on the back, along with her last name. She'd do up her skates as best she could, because no matter the situation, those things were a pain to put on. Standing, she'd waddle out of the changing room, along with a couple of her teammates.

She'd follow the two onto the ice, finally able to stand somewhat normally as she skated around the ice rink, to warm up. It had taken a year, but she had managed to convince the school faculty to start a girl's hockey team. As the strongest advocate for this, she had been selected for team captain in a landslide victory from among the candidates. She'd always enjoyed watching the sport and playing it casually. When she asked why there was no girl's team and had gotten a pitiful response as an answer, she figured it wouldn't hurt to press for one.

The response had been surprisingly positive, getting more applicants than even she had expected. Then again, maybe that shouldn't have been so shocking, given where she lived.

Jenny herself always had been particularly athletic and health conscious. That had been made more challenging as of late, but she still tried her best to at least remain active and tried to maintain her vegetarianism. She had tried going vegan before, but found that given her lifestyle, she just wasn't getting enough and was making it way too hard for her parents, so she settled for a slight, cheating version, occasionally allowing herself to be fed chicken or fish, at least when dinner was out of her control.

Given her lifestyle, Jenny managed to maintain what she'd even consider an aesthetically pleasing physique. She was quite fit and lithe, with a bit of muscling, though her metabolism seemed to be working against her, making it very hard for her to put on visible muscle.

The tweet of a whistle signaled that they would be starting practice soon. Their coach, who awkwardly enough, was male… on a female team, started to organize a six-vs-six match with five on the ice and one goalie, though Jenny's team ended up with the stand-in, for when their main was unavailable or needed a rest.

Now, normally Jenny was a fairly calm and reclusive girl, she didn't go looking for trouble if she could help it - but she _very much _did if she believed it necessary - that wasn't to say she wasn't brave, she was plenty brave, she had to be, given what she'd gone through. But in a setting such as this, that reserved demeanor melted away. Today however, it was especially bad.

Only an hour into their three hour practice, Jenny had been pulled aside twice for being too rough. The third time was the last one as Jenny boardchecked one of the players as they rounded the back of one of the nets. "Snow!" barked her coach, he didn't sound happy…

Jenny skated over, she suspected she was due for another penalty… but when she got over to him; "What is wrong with you Jen? You're an aggressive player, sure, but I've never seen you like _this_." he asked, sounding more concerned than angry.

Jenny pursed her lips, shifting her gaze away from his, unable to give him an answer. How could she properly explain? How could he understand? "Having some trouble somewhere else in life?" he asked, causing Jenny to raise her gaze back up at him, giving him a slight, ashamed nod.

"Alright, well… how about calling it early for you? It's alright, head home or do what you have to in order to sort whatever is going on out… alright?" her coach said, reassuringly. Jenny nodded again.

"Alright.. Alright…" she muttered, nodding with each _alright. _She climbed off the rink and started to head back into the change room before noticing someone sitting in the bleachers; a well tanned boy with a dark shaggy mop atop his head, holding what looked like your typical stadium bag of popcorn with it's red and white stripes. He jerked his head towards the foyer, getting a nod from Jenny, causing him to stand up and leave the rink.

Once changed back into her usual normal attire, she left for the main hall of the facility where she'd run into that same guy in the stands. "Hey Nate, what's got you hanging around after hours?" she'd ask, the dark brown haired boy tilting the bag of popcorn towards her, offering her some, which Jenny dug a hand into, pulling some out. "Why?"

"I was peckish and concessions was just closing as I got here. They had some popcorn made and didn't wanna throw it out. So. Free popcorn!" Nathan replied, chuckling and just straight up handing Jenny the bag as he used both hands to pull his backpack straps up over his darker, forest green jacket, which had been half zipped up atop his white t-shirt. Aside from that, he donned the common blue denims that most of the other highschool aged students wore.

He idly blew a bit of his long dark, almost black brown hair out of his eyes before holding his hand out to take the bag of popcorn back; "Mine now, _bitch_." Jenny remarked teasingly, causing Nate to roll his eyes.

With a scoff and shake of his head, he lowered his hand. "Uh-huh. Well, to answer your question, I wasn't sure if you were coming over today or not. Said you wanted to look over the place yourself… so…" he trailed off. "Not sure what you'll find that Chelsea and I didn't…"

"Well… what did you find?" Jenny asked as the two walked across the campus towards the metro station, reaching it just as one of the _Skytrains _pulled into the station. From the station, situated on the side of the mountain that overlooked the city below, one could see many of the notable landmarks of the city; the chrome sphere of TELUS World of Science, BC Place and Rogers Arena and the peninsular forested outcropping of Stanley Park that stuck out into Vancouver Harbor.

The two found the train to be lightly populated, finding a double seat to themselves. The ride would head down the mountain, through North Vancouver and across the Harbor where they'd get off at Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver.

Jenny sank back in her seat as Nathan answered her question; "Not a lot, his charm and sword were left on his bedside table." Nate replied, "Which…" he started…

"-Is unlike him." Jenny finished, rising from her seat again, furrowing her brow; "He'd never leave the place without at least the charm." she muttered, Nathan nodding along with her.

"Agreed." he replied. "I dunno about you, but something smells off about all this."

Jenny sighed, nodding back; "Yeah, you would smell something off." she muttered, trying to punctuate the heavy topic with a bit of humor, though all she got what this pathetic whine from Nathan who rolled his eyes and gave her this look that just said _stop._

"Get enough of that from Chelsea I guess." she'd tack on with a snicker.

"More than you fuckin' know." he replied with a scoff, raising his hand to his forehead, pressing his index, middle finger and thumb against it.

Jenny quietly snickered, digging her phone out of her pocket, intent on calling her parents to let them know she'd either be late, or out all night. Though she had to wait until the train passed through the tunnel that ran under the harbor, turning the _skytrain _into something that more closely resembled your typical subway; going from an above ground light-rail system to an underground one. The metro was underground throughout the more populated sections of Vancouver, they'd be reaching Waterfront station soon.

The train came to a stop at the station, where the two squeezed out of the car, trying to make it through the station, through crowds of commuters. Once they made it to the surface they had to pass through the old train station looking building above the metro. _Old _may have been giving the wrong impression however, it was well kept, but looked like one of those old style train stations, with a giant clock built into it. It would look very old timey style, if it wasn't for an A&W being built into it, right next to the exit.

The two exited onto the streets of the city, stepping onto West Cordova Street, even now, the roads were filled with cars, the sidewalks with people, the occasional homeless person on the side of the sidewalk, some with push carts and anything else they could scrounge up to make their lives just a little easier.

Jenny would idly glance out of the corner of her eye, pitiably at these individuals, though avoided making eye contact, immediately looking away whenever one looked towards her. There was usually a slight twinge in her that wanted to help, maybe provide a few dollars, but that came with it's own slew of problems that gave her pause.

"C'mon." Nathan muttered, tugging lightly on Jenny's arm, getting her to follow him eastbound along the street, turning onto the nearby Water Street and walking down the sidewalk towards one of the older sections of the city known as Gastown; less glass towers, more brown and red bricks. Even the road was bricked, at least some of it was.

It wasn't that long of a walk thankfully, perhaps only five or ten minutes from the station. They'd walk down the brown bricked sidewalk, planted trees and old gas globe style lamp posts decorating the sides of the road, the latter of which just being for show as they were electrical.

Eventually they'd reach their destination, the Six Acres pub. Despite being underage, the two would enter, with Nathan flashing one of the employees a quick wave, getting a nod in reply. This wasn't the first time Jenny had been through here. They could have entered the supernatural world back at Waterfront, as there was a public gateway there, but that would mean they'd have to go through security… and that was something they wanted to avoid.

The two would step into the back of the pub, finding a small broom closet and entering, shutting the door behind them. Thankfully the closet was out of sight from anyone in the main area; no wrong ideas here. Well, kinda.

"Oh if Chelsea were here… the comments she'd make." Nathan muttered.

"Zip it." quipped Jenny who reached up for the light bulb that hung from the ceiling, grasping the little pull cord and turning the light off.

"I kinda needed that…" Nathan mumbled.

"Oh, sorry, I thought-" Jenny started, getting cut off by Nathan.

"-No, no, I'll just fumble my way around for the seal." he remarked, mildly annoyed, though it sounded in good humor as he planted his hand against the wall. It took a moment but eventually he found it, resting his hand against the wall as a faint blue seal began to light up, casting a calming blue light through the room.

The sensation depends on what mode you used to realm hop, but in this particular scenario, Jenny felt herself get lightheaded, swaying slightly before her ears popped. Then suddenly, everything was right as rain again. Nathan reached for the door handle and swung the door open, stepping out into the hall, beckoning Jenny to come with.

As she did, she peered around the corner towards where the pub area would have been - opposite of her would have been the steps leading up towards the locked door that lead into Nathan's apartment.

Jenny still wasn't quite used to going from the mortal realm to the supernatural, it was always just a little jarring going from _everyone _at least _looking _human, to only _some _people looking human. It seemed to be a busy afternoon, so take your pick; from more humanoid looking cyclops and fae folk, to more monstrous types; such as Greek Minotaurs or Hindi Naga, which were actually just as you'd expect them; half human, half serpent. In the corner seated at one of the booths were the trio of supernatural girls - a Siren, Banshee and Mermaid, an odd trio - who Jenny knew only came here because they had the hots for a certain individual who worked here.

Jenny gripped tightly onto the corner, locking eyes with the Banshee, sticking her tongue out at her, with the fully corporeal formed banshee staring back at her before lashing out a transparent tongue back at her with a scowl. "Okay. C'mon." Nathan intervened, pulling Jenny from the corner and jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, up the stairs. With a sign, Jenny nodded, following him upstairs as he went up and unlocked the door, letting the two of them in.

She followed him up to the second floor, into the Stone family apartment proper. "Ugh." Nathan groaned, kicking his shoes off. "Alright… so…" he waved down the hall, which went straight down towards the living room, with exits into the kitchen halfway down on the right, with an exit leading towards bedrooms to the left, the living room at the end, though only towards the right of the hall, with white wall taking up the rest of the right. The floors being entirely hardwood, except for the kitchen which was white laminate tile. The apartment was pretty modern looking, much nicer looking if you considered how the exterior looked, though it was pretty basic in amenities.

"Al's room is to the left, then the middle right, the one with the window out onto the main road." Nathan remarked, removing a small shark tooth charm from under his shirt and pulling it off over his head. Upon removing it, his brown eyes adopted a vibrant amber glow. He'd then pocket the amulet. That glow was a little eerie to Jenny, she'd only learned of her friend's nature a few months ago and was still getting used to it, much like she was getting used to knowing that an entire world of supernatural creatures was just beyond an invisible veil, right in the middle of the metropolis of Vancouver.

Jenny nodded, "Alright, see what I can find." she commented.

Nathan nodded back, "Alright." he replied, turning to go into the kitchen, which was one of those narrow through-way kitchens, leading into the dining area which was really just an extension of the living room. It seemed Nathan's parents were down manning the supernatural side of the pub, the version that they owned.

Jenny wandered down the hall, finding Al's room and turning into it, opening the door to find the place… kind of a mess. "Nate!" she called out.

"Sorry!" he called back. "Chelsea and I tore the place apart looking for clues!"

His bed had the beddings thrown haphazardly back onto it, his closet has been rummaged through, with a few articles of clothing strewn around the floor. The Xbox One had been pulled out from under the black stand that his little flat TV stood, having been shoved back under, while the wires were still strewn out, unplugged. The only things that looked to have been untouched was his bedside table and guitar stand, which still had the black and white guitar that Jenny had given him planted atop it. Jenny chuckled slightly, he sucked at it, but when she, Nate, Reiko and Richard played, they usually stuck him on vocals… because that was all he was good at.

Jenny couldn't help but crack a slight grin. Al, Alphonse, Alaric, Alucard, whatever you wanted to call him and as old as he may have been, this looked like your typical teenage boy's room. She found it kinda amusing to think that the _scary _vampire she knew was just as disorganized and distracted as her brother was.

She stepped over and sat down on the edge of his bed, next to the side table, the objects atop it relatively untouched. Aside from his alarm clock, which had been unplugged, was a small black and silver pen and onyx cross amulet with a dark red ruby embedded in the top of the cross, making it look more like a ank as the top bar of the cross was slightly enlarged to accommodate the gem. It was still a relatively small thing, easily tucked under a shirt if you wanted to conceal it.

Jenny picked up the two objects, holding the cross in one hand, the metal chain jinggling off the side table, hanging off the cross as she pulled it up off the table. She remembered what Nate had told her, she fully agreed with him. Al would have never left without taking this with him. Not if he wanted to avoid the ire of the S.R.U or A.D.A.M, the latter being a bit scarier than the former.

ADAM - the Advocates for Destruction of Abominable Monster - was one classified as a _anti-supernatural terrorist group_. People who took it upon themselves to rid the world of supernatural creatures, regardless of if they were classified as _Green, Yellow _or _Red_.

The SRU however wasn't any friend of Al's. The Supernatural Response Unit was a branch of law enforcement that detained any _Red _class supernaturals, since those deemed _red _were considered a threat to society. Though _detained _in this case, usually meant killed, since most SRU officers preferred to shoot first.

Thankfully, these charms were intended to prevent that… allow reds to pass as human. Most reds even faked their IDs, as the supernatural realm was significantly more tight nit than the mortal realm. Here, people helped one another a lot more than humans helping other humans. Usually. That wasn't to say there wasn't conflict, there definitely was, without question.

But as far as Jenny understood it, those here understood that the community was stronger, if mortals couldn't trace back perceived threats back to them. Or something along those lines. Which she was grateful for, without such commitment from the community, she'd probably have never met several of her friends, Nathan included.

Jenny sigh lightly, setting the charm back down, holding the black pen in her other hand. She knew what this thing really was. He'd used it several times, once to save her ass in an encounter with ADAM. She pressed her thumb against the top of the pen and flicked it to the side, turning the top of the pen. Normally this would have extended the pen point, but this wasn't actually a pen.

The pen would grow into a solid wooden handle, a small crossguard forming above her hand as the point extended into a two and a half foot blade of sharp steel. The pen's glamor guise dropping as it was replaced with a Migration Period germanic sword. She remembered what Al had told her about the blade. He treasured it as one of the last things he had of his mother. Strange that his mother had given him a blade, but according to him, this was the sword of his great grandfather, Alaric the First. Yep, that Alaric, the Visigoth king that sacked Rome in 410 AD. His mother being a direct descendant of his.

Jenny wasn't sure how to get the blade back into it's pen form… so she just lowered it and propped it against the side table. It wasn't going to give her any clues. Instead she decided to rummage through his side table, pulling the top drawer out and immediately tensing up. "Nate!" she called out, getting him to rush in from the kitchen, holding two small bottles of Pepsi, one of them open.

"I'm here!" he exclaimed, walking in and handing her one… but she didn't notice him holding it out to her as her eyes were glued to the drawer. "Hide these." she muttered, staring down at a pair of small glass vials filled with a dark red liquid.

"Huh? Oh!" Nathan yelped, putting the Pepsis down and scooping the vials up. "Right…" he muttered, pocketing them.

Jenny knew what those were, she didn't have to guess; vials of his vitae. She groaned quietly, shaking her head. "Jenny? You alright?" Nathan asked. No. She wasn't. She'd been a couple months without taking a hit of his blood, she didn't want a relapse.

For all intents and purposes, Jenny had become one of the things that Al had never wanted for her, a Ghoul. Though since she was still in her mortal prime, she was able to wean herself off it and retain her self control. But the first few weeks of trying to get off that stuff, was hell. For the first two weeks she couldn't think of anything else other than getting another hit, it was worse than cocaine, worse than opioids… but the power, the rush…

She shook her head, trying to forget about it. That had been how she'd been introduced to this hidden world. The only one who knew of the slow, stripping of her humanity was Nathan himself… well, Al too, but that went without saying.

Jenny grasped the unopened bottle of Pepsi, cracking it open and taking a long drink from it, hoping it would get her mind off the blood. Thankfully, sugar was just what the doctor recommended, because nothing was as subtly addicting as sugar… _nothing._

"Thanks." Jenny mumbled, setting her drink down and returning to searching the drawer. "So… you searched everywhere in here?" she asked.

"Yeah, pulled the drawers out, looked under the bed, through every nook… tore the place appart." Nate replied, idly sipping his drink as Jenny searched through the drawer, patting down the sides of the drawer, the base and the top… she then paused, thinking she felt something.

She grasped hold of what she'd found, pulling a slip of paper out from where it had been wedged. It was an envelope! Furrowing her brow, Jenny would open it, pulling out some kind of letter. Who the hell sent actual letters these days? She read through the note, reading it aloud as Nathan leaned in curiously.

Once she was finished; "Looks like Alaric was meeting some _Yeng_. Ring a bell?" Jenny asked, looking over his shoulder. Nathan shook his head. Jenny then returned to the letter, flicking the bottom of it; "They wanted to meet not far from here, towards the fishery." she finished.

Nathan raised a hand to his chin. "Guess we know where we're going next." he mused, raising his gaze towards the window and peered outside. He then whipped his phone out and checked the time. "Alright, we've got a bit of daylight left. Assuming the guy who sent that was also a vampire, it's probable that we'll have to wait till night."

Jenny gave him a concerned look; "You sure coming along is a good idea in that case… I mean…" she trailed off. She didn't want to say it, Al and Nathan's relationship was an exception to the stereotype.

"What? You think just cuz I'm a Werewolf that mean all vampires want me dead?" he asked, sounding almost offended.

"Umm… don't they?" Jenny replied, voice cracking slightly, a bit embarrassed as her face went a bit red.

Nathan paused for a moment… "Well… you're not entirely wrong. How about I call Chelsea and see if she'll come along. Just in case." he suggested, already starting to dial her up.

Jenny sighed quietly, more people coming along was probably a good idea… she just wasn't sure Chelsea was the best choice. "Yeah, cuz that's what we need… the succubus." she remarked, her voice laced with sarcasm.

* * *

It was about an hour before either of them received a text from Chelsea to head outside.

"So we're headed to some old fish processing plant?" Chelsea asked once the two of them stepped outside, raising a brow, brushing back some of her long, firey red hair. Chelsea was one of those girls. She wore a light, pink fleece overtop a red crop top, the majority of her abdomen exposed despite the layers, with ratty, torn jeans, looking something like a punk… alibet a punk that demanded attention. Long painted nails, long lustrous hair and long lashes complete with a fully makeuped face punctuated by piercing green eyes. Jenny wasn't a fan.

"Supposedly." Jenny remarked, crossing her arms. "We're expecting vampires."

With that Chelsea turned her gaze from Jenny and towards Nathan… and before she could say anything; "I know!" Nathan exclaimed. "But really, do you expect me to sit this one out?"

The succubus sighed, waving her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah… guess not Wonder Dog." which elicited a sharp whine from Nathan who glared annoyedly at Chelsea.

"C'mon…" Jenny groaned, squeezing past the two and starting to cross the street, leading the way towards the fishery.

It was about a twenty minute walk, given the hour they had to wait and the time of year, the sun was already low in the sky… at least… Jenny thought it was, given how she couldn't see it past all the towers and mountains that occupied the horizon of pretty much every direction she looked.

That being said, the city was getting dark. From what Jenny knew, the supernatural version of Vancouver was just as dangerous at night as the mortal realm was, only difference being that you had SRU patrols in the mortal realm as opposed to the honor system in the supernatural realm… so really pick your poison, nothing was a sure thing.

The three looked past the fence at the dark, run down processing plant. "Pretty sure this place is active on the mortal plane." Nathan muttered, "But this…" he trailed off. The place looked like the last place any sane individual would want to be. Holes peppered the metal siding that made up the warehouses next to the plant proper, while the plant itself appeared to have seen better days.

"Well doesn't look like anybody's home…" Chelsea added, a slight hint of mischief entering her voice. "Shall we take a closer look?" she asked, stepping forward and reaching out towards the chainlink fence. She'd then swipe her hand across the chains, her demonic claws extending as she slashed through the metal, pulling the fence open. It was mildly troubling just how easy she'd managed to cut through that metal… which normally would have required bolt cutters.

"Uhhh…" Jenny mumbled, not wanting to be the first to pass the precipice.

"Fine." Nathan grumbled, squeezing past the fence, taking the first step onto the other side.

Now, Jenny would consider herself relatively independent… she was brave, totally capable of standing up for herself. But… when it came to spooky, potentially haunted locations… she was a human quake. She'd never thought she was scared of such things, though a tumble into a Transylvanian forest a couple years back proved her otherwise… the very one she'd met Al in.

She forced a slight chuckle thinking back on it… after that they hauled his ass back to Vancouver with them, since he had no where else to go. It had been a leap of faith, but she was _kinda _glad they'd taken it. He had his moments, where the Vampire in him really showed… but generally speaking, at least to her, he was the sweetest person she'd ever met. She almost forgot about the creepy processing plant, thinking back on how she could get him to completely lose his composure and turn him into a babbling mess.

"Jenny!" Nathan called from the other side of the fence. Oh, right...

Being shaken back to reality, Jenny pouted, furrowing her brow. She didn't like it, she didn't agree with it, but she accepted it. It was something that had to be done. If there was any hope of finding Al, it lay within that plant.

She squeezed past the hole in the fence, joining the other two on the other side. Following Nathan across the parking lot that back in the mortal realm would have been filled with semi-trucks and shipping containers, given this plant was right on the wharf's edge - giant industrial shipping cranes could be seen in the distance, the sky above as slight haze; the veil that masked the supernatural world from the mortal one.

"I hope you know I already hate this place…" Jenny remarked as the three came to a rusty red door that lead into the plant. Nathan stepped up to it, trying to open the door, it didn't budge.

"We're not… even… inside." Nathan remarked, struggling with the door. "Hrrrg! C'mon!" he groaned, shoving his shoulder against the door. "It's not locked." he added, "Handle is working fine."

"Sit down howlie." Chelsea said, gently pushing Nate aside, who sighed exasperatedly.

"Isn't that a Hawaiian saying?" Jenny mumbled, recalling something she'd heard from a comedy show… but not sure if it was true or not. Though she didn't get a response as Chelsea stepped forward and kicked the door in, knocking it off the hinges and slamming it into the floor a couple meters back. Jenny tensed up, cringing; "Well… if there's anyone here, they know _we're _here now." she may have also felt a little intimidated by her friend's supernatural strength.

"I coulda done that…" Nathan whined quietly, but just like Jenny's question, was ignored.

The three stepped into the plant. The place was a horror show. Conveyor belts lined with teeth like nooks on them for placing fish were lined throughout the plant floor, above them old rusted pipes with hooks and hoses hanging off them. It looked like one could really hurt themselves here… not helping was the big old machine at the end which looked almost like a furnace. Had some kind of hopper on it, leading into a wide hole where it looked like you were supposed to feed fish into.

"Jeez… what kinda fucked up mind would wanna meet here?" Chelsea mumbled, looking around. "Can hardly see." she added. The place was dark, far too dark for her or Jenny to see normally, everything being a dark, black fog.

Nathan on the other hand; "Eh, trust me, not much to see. Well uh, kinda. You might be glad you don't see anything."

"Great! That's reassuring!" Chelsea snapped back.

"Pipe down." Jenny hissed, "No telling what else is in here."

Which was only part of the problem. Now that they were here, the question was where the hell did they start looking? This plant was huge and with an extra administrative level up top, Jenny could just barely see the stairs that lead up onto some ratty looking walkway that lead into the offices. At least that's what she thought she saw. "Hey, Nate, are those stairs over there?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Nathan mumbled, looking around. "Oh! Yeah. There's stairs over there, leads up onto a walkway. There's doors on either side, left and right of the stairs." he replied, confirming for her what she thought she saw.

"Okay, good, maybe we should check those rooms out." She suggested.

"Good idea. Chelsea?" Nathan replied, looking over at the succubus, who after her little quip had fallen concerningly quiet. "Uh… you okay?" Nate asked.

As far as Jenny could tell, Chelsea wasn't doing anything in particular, standing on the other side of one of the conveyors, across from her. "Something's… wrong…" she muttered, "I feel…"

"Like what?" Nate asked, interrupting her.

Chelsea didn't seem the least bit annoyed, apparently not having the time to be bothered. "-Like we're being watched."

"You're being paranoi-" Nathan started before also freezing in place, tilting his head up towards the stairs, "Okay, maybe not…" he muttered quietly.

"What?" Jenny asked, she didn't see, smell or hear anything… but unlike her friends, she didn't have any supernatural senses. If the situation wasn't so tense, Jenny could probably have visualized Nathan's little wolf ears flicking as he scanned the room.

"I'm not sure… I'll check it out, Chelsea, watch out for Jenny alright?" Nathan replied, being suddenly engulfed by a puff of smoke, out of which charged a relatively large timber wolf, creeping low along the ground, sneaking under the conveyors and moving silently on his padded paws.

Jenny huffed quietly. It hadn't been direct, but she hated being referred to as the weakest link… though in this case, she couldn't exactly deny it. Chelsea and Nathan both had access to powers and strengths that she with her mere mortal being couldn't hope to match. Even as a ghoul, one that had gone so long without tasting a vampire's blood, she lacked any significant supernatural advantages that they might have possessed.

Nathan seemed to be moving towards the stairs, climbing them as quietly as he could before stopping before the right door at the top of them, along the walkway above. He lowered his snout and sniffed at the base of the door, pausing, raising he his and tilting it as if confused, emitting a cute, confused whine. Then, as if something clicked, his ears pressed back against his head and he started to growl, slowly backpedaling.

The door opened and Nate lunged forward, pouncing the person that had opened the door, seeming to knock them down as he jumped on them, pinning them to the floor. It was at this moment that the door opposite of him was kicked in, a bright light shining in from a flashlight as a large man armored in what looked like SWAT gear moved into the room and fired a few rounds towards where Nathan had vanished.

"Nate!" Jenny exclaimed, just as the two ground level doors were breached, two more pairs of armored agents entering the premise. Chelsea shoved Jenny to the ground as the agents opened fire on the two, with Chelsea barely able to shelter the two, her demonic wings sprouting from her back and arching in front of her, sheltering the two from the bullets, though it seemed to take a great strain on her.

"Fuck!" she cursed a few of the bullets piercing her wings and slapping into the two of them, though having lost enough of their kinetic energy to become non-lethal. For Jenny it felt like she was repeatedly getting sharply pinched, Chelsea on the other hand didn't seem to be taking it quite as well, yelping as one of the rounds impacted her exposed thigh, hitting a spot that hadn't been covered by her torn jeans.

Looking down at the bullet that rolled to the floor, Jenny noticed the bright, gleaming shine on them as if they were chrome… then she recognized the material; _silver. _She could see the silver lining peeling off the bullets lead core.

Unfortunately for the two of them, the pair of agents that had stormed in from the secondary entrance behind them had spotted them, raising them weapons; flashlight mounted submachine guns and opened fire. Chelsea was forced to abandon Jenny, who remained on the ground, out of the line of fire, to rush one of the pairs of agents, vaulting back into the air and landing behind the second pair of agents that had just opened fire. With a flick of her wrist she slashed her demonic claws through one of the agent's torsos their armor virtually useless against her claws, blood spewing from the wound, coating the floor and machinery. The man would be dead in mere seconds without treatment.

The other agent however, raised his weapon to block Chelsea's follow up, causing her claws to become stuck in his rifle barrel, though rendering his primary weapon useless. That didn't seem to matter however as the agent reached for his belt, pulling what looked like a canister of pepper spray from his waist, raising it and spraying the succubus down with it… only what came out wasn't pepper spray. It was a fine mist of what looked like water, though the moment it contacted Chelsea she slunk back, her entire right side smouldering, causing her to cry out in pain, falling to the ground as she clambered under one of the conveyors, trying to get out of range of the holy water sprinkler.

"No!" Jenny cried, trying to stand, with one of the agents behind her, yelling at her.

"Stay down!" she cried, but didn't give her so much as a second before the agent pulled the trigger and shot Jenny in the back with a single bullet, causing Jenny to clutch her abdomen, crying out and falling to the ground. She hadn't felt it at first, she knew she'd been shot, but now that she was laying on the floor, the burning sensation began to tear at her nerve endings, a red hot pain shooting up from her abdomen. She clutched her hand to her belly to keep herself from bleeding too much. It wasn't the first time she'd been wounded so, but… last time she'd had a vampire to heal her… this time there would be no such savior.

The agents began to round the two up, slinging them against a wall, with another agent coming by a few moments later with a bleeding Nathan dragged behind him, chucking him against the wall as well. All three of them had been cuffed with some kind of silver alloy handcuffs, rendering Nathan and Chelsea unable to use their powers; Nathan having been reverted back to his human form.

Now upon closer inspection it was clear who these agents were, their armored SWAT looking getups emblazoned with white letters; ADAM. Their uniforms were the color of their order, with the armor itself being black, but underneath, signs of their red and white regalia could be seen, the armor shoulders being riveted with platinum christian crosses.

One of the agents would stop before the three of them, her face covered by a clear bullet resistant face mask, like the kind you'd expect riot police to wear, she leaned down before the two of them, her face indistinguishable other than piercing blue eyes, due to a black balaclava underneath her helmet.

"What do we do with the mortal?" she asked, turning her head over her shoulder, directing the question to the apparent team leader.

"Same as the others, mortals who conspire with the inhuman beings are rendered the same fate. So long as one man or woman carries such collaborative thoughts within their minds, the world shall never be free of the taint of these monsters." replied the ADAM leader, his armor possessing, in addition to the silver finishings, a single golden cross painted on his chest. "Now go and strike the beasts down, devote to destruction and all they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant - spare not the beast, nor the man who so harbors them." added the team leader. The way he spoke the second half as if it were scripture.

The agent stood back up, nodding at her commander, turning around and reciting the second half of what he'd just said. So… terrorist group following (supposedly) a major religion, hell bent on genocide… why did that seem familiar?

Jenny however was in little condition to contemplate this, as she nudged Nathan's leg with her knee. She was forced to press down on her gunshot wound, gritting her teeth as she did. She didn't want to die, not like this. She tried to suck it up, there was a way out of this, as difficult as it might have been to pull off, it was far better than just waiting to die. She had to do something. "Can… you reach your pocket?" Jenny whispered through grit teeth, doing her best to hold back tears of pain, though they welled up over time and eventually fell. She did manage to keep from emitting any sobs or whimpers, forcing herself to keep those down as she didn't want to draw attention back to them.

Nathan, who himself had been badly bloodied, nodded slightly, his chest was coated with blood, as if he'd taken a few rounds to the chest, though unlike Jenny, he could actually weather a few hits.

Thankfully, Jenny didn't need to explain what she needed as Nathan reached down for his jacket pocket, pulling a small glass vial filled with a dark red liquid. He gave Jenny a slight look, teeth slightly grit. He raised a brow, as if asking if she was sure of this. But that wasn't a question that had to be asked. In this situation, Jenny would take surviving, but relapsing, over death.

She reached over and took the vial from him, popping the cork with her thumb… the cultists were nearly finished their little _prayer_ if you could call it that. She had to do this now…

She clenched her eyes and raised the vial of vampire blood to her lips and downed it with one gulp, shaking her head and shivering slightly as it felt weird drinking this stuff cold.

Now, given she was ultimately still mortal, the silver bindings would have no effect on her. Due to the cuffs silver alloy they were made from however, the bindings would also be rendered much weaker than plain iron or steel. The only reason it could hold supernatural creatures was due to the inhibiting effects of the silver.

Jenny strained against the bindings, the chain would be the first to break if it broke at all. Though it was at this point that the agents finally turned their attention back to the three of them; just as the chains were broken. "Hey! She's-" started the female agent who was then cut short as the vampire blood that had worked through Jenny's system had reactivated her ghoulish attributes.

Her eyes glowed a soft red as she lunged up and slugged the female agent's jaw with a satisfying crunch, shattering the base of her skull. She'd then flip the agent around, reaching to her belt and pulling the agent's pistol from its holster, working faster than any unenhanced mortal could. The agents were just unable to keep up, with another one getting shot in the exposed neck, causing the leader and his other three agents to scatter.

For Jenny, this was a feeling she'd missed, if she was being honest with herself. The strength, dexterity, the raw power that came with the use of vampire blood… it was intoxicating. It was like being high as a kite while amped up on the world's strongest sugar rush. There was no want for lack of energy; she felt like she could take on the whole damn world and still have more left in her.

Any semblance of fear went out the window now, her wound having closed up nicely not long after drinking the vitae. Though she would now use the time she had while the agents were relocating to free her friends, turning about and breaking their chains… though the silver cuffs were still around their wrists, they could at least now make a break for it, running for the door they're entered the plant from.

"Sir! They're escaping!" shouted one of the agents.

"No they're not…" muttered the leader, who Jenny had _just _been able to hear thanks to her now heightened senses.

"W-wait!" Jenny exclaimed, now worried that there were more outside… but it was too late, the door had been swung open… but not by any of them. Or, rather, the door had been kicked off its hinges. Standing there now, was a tall, muscular man with short spiky black hair, a full beard of black stubble and donning jeans and an open black jacket with a grey sleeveless shirt underneath. His red eyes were sharp, lending a noticeable asian physiognomy to him.

"Come with me if you want to live!" he exclaimed, "I kinda just wanted to say that, but serious c'mon." Jenny couldn't help but notice the fangs he sported when he spoke.

As much as Jenny didn't like the idea of following complete strangers, stranger vampires no less, Nate seemed a bit more inclined, furrowing his brow as if he recognized the man.

"I say we follow." Nate stated, rushing out the plant right behind the asian vampire.

Jenny looked over her shoulder, just as the agents opened fire, bullets pinging off the nearby metal walls, sparking as the ricochet off them. Well, it was either stay here with the trigger happy cultists or out there… with the vampire dude… both shit choices. But given that one of them wasn't trying to kill her right now… she opted to follow outside. It wasn't much better out here.

She bounded after Nathan and Chelsea, catching up the the fiery redhead; "So when were you gonna tell me you were slamming back Al's vitae?!" she exclaimed, accusingly. Jenny sighed, the last thing she needed right now was this stupid subject being brought up right now, the damn succubus probably saw it as a threat to her _goals_.

"Honestly? Never!" Jenny barked back, picking up the pace a bit just to get away from Chelsea, trying to join up with Nathan.

Outside a trio of black cars with the same silver finish that the agents wore on their armor waited outside, but the situation out here was to say _different, _would be an understatement. There had been another nine agents outside, thouogh four of them now lay on the ground in pools of their own blood; necks having been slashed open or riddled with what looked like puncture wounds through their chest - or large rending slashes across them that said _fuck you _to their armor.

Among the still living agents was another trio of what Jenny assumed were vampires, the way they rushed through the agents, a couple of them with elongated claws, cutting down the agents like… well… like hot butter, to use an overused metaphor.

"This way, before more show up!" shouted the asian vampire, standing next to a shipping container not far from the plant, just on the other side of where the vehicles had parked.

"One moment!" exclaimed one of the other three vampires, who finished cutting through an ADAM agent. "Gotta clean up here!" though that did give Jenny and the slower ones time to catch up to the asian vampire. Once they had reached him, the other vampires had cleaned up the ADAM agents outside, the only ones left were still inside, probably not wanting to come out until reinforcements arrived. Hopefully they'd be long gone before then.

With the help of one of the other vampires, the asian one opened up the container, ushering the others inside. "Wait, this is a dead end." Jenny muttered. Then the doors slammed shut behind them, rendering them in pitch black darkness. "Oh fuck… we're not getting shanghaied are we?" she whined.

"Ha, ha, very funny." replied the asian vampire; another _clunk _following as the vampires struggled to move a slab of metal out of the floor of the shipping container, only visible thanks to a dim light shining up and out of the hole in the floor. It appeared to be some kind of secret entrance that had been invisible at first glance, with little flaps over the edge of the sheet metal to hide the groves that allowed it to slide into place.

"So, mind sharing who you are handsome?" Chelsea asked, with a slight smirk across her lips; Jenny rolled her eyes, the age difference was bound to be- she paused for a moment and probably went a little pale. She clenched her eyes shut and emitted a slight whine as she thought about the age difference between herself and Alaric.

"_They're immortal, age has no meaning to them, JUST. DON'T. THINK ABOUT IT." _she thought, trying to get her thoughts to move on, anywhere but there.

"Hmm? Oh right." replied the asian vampire, just as the other vampires had managed to pull the hatch out and were now descending underground, a ladder riveted to the side of the hole, almost like a sewer entrance. The way this guy spoke however, he possessed no accent - at least according to Jenny's western point of view - and spoke perfectly clear english. He almost sounded like a New Yorker the way he spoke.

"Yeng-fen Sun, though if it's all the same to you, just call me Tony." replied the vampire.

"Care to fill us in on the plan then Tony?" Nathan asked, interrupting any follow up that Chelsea may have had in store, evident that she did, when she shot a glaring pout towards him.

"Plan? Plan's gone to shit bro. There is no plan anymore, that's why we swooped in and pulled your asses out of the fire. We're gonna need your help finding our mutual friend." said Tony, jabbing an index finger down towards the hole; "Now, c'mon, we gotta regroup back at base before more zealots show up."

"You mean Al?" Jenny asked, getting a nod from Tony.

"On the nose. Now c'mon I'll explain how we put two and two together after you three _get in the hole!_" he replied, sounding a little more frustrated now. "C'mon last time I'm gonna say it before I ditch your asses and _you _can deal with them zealots out there!" before he turned about and climbed down the ladder.

Jenny sighed, as much as she was unsure about this Tony guy, he was onto something. At least it seemed that way. Finding Al was indeed high on her priorities. He'd saved her and the rest of those present before, now it was time to return the favor. And of course, there was how she felt, but… she was still grappling with that. On the other hand, as he so eloquently put it, it was either follow him down the hole or deal with any ADAM agents that showed up out there… and that was just not an option.

"Alright…" Jenny muttered, being the first to follow down the hole, climbing down and emerging, where else, the sewers. She reached up and plugged her nose, almost retching. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna hurl." Jenny groaned as Nate and Chelsea followed her down suit.

Then it was Nathan's turn to dry heave, multiple times in fact. "Oh for- _you're gonna hurl_?!" he exclaimed, his sensitive nose serving to amplify the intensity of the stench.

Chelsea seemed less affected than Nate, though it was clear she didn't enjoy being down here, as evidenced by her plugging her nose.

Jenny gave a slight shrug before turning to follow the vampires through the sewers. "Where are we going?" Jenny asked. "Also you said you'd provide some answers."

"I did…" Tony mumbled, "Alright, so… we'd been staking out that place for weeks, hoping Alaric would show up. Well, he didn't… so I just posted a single observer there. He reported back that ADAM had been staking the place out too, must have gotten wind of what we were up to; they've been after Alaric for a while, as you may know. Which means, we've probably got a mole inside- uuhh, our organization." he stammered, but got right back on track. "But we got people working on that. Anyways, when you guys showed up, obviously not being aligned with ADAM, I got a call from our observer, brought over this group of brawlers to get you out, because if you were there, you guys must have been familiar with our boy." he looked over his shoulder at the three of them, his gaze landing on Jenny.

"You in particular pink girl, Al's never said nothin' about having any ghouls, claims he's not a fan… you must be somethin' special in that case." Tony commented.

Jenny felt her cheeks flush with warmth, knowing damn well she was probably blushing… meanwhile she could feel the equally hot metaphorical eye beams being drilled into the back of her head by Chelsea. She didn't even need to look.

Jenny just offered a slight shrug in response. She didn't feel special, at least not at the moment. She just remembered not having much choice in the matter. The options had been; become a vampire, ghoul, or die… and she didn't want to give up her humanity, she'd be damned before she did that.

"It's… complex." she stated, nervously scratching behind her ears. "Err, complicated." she corrected.

"Same thing." Chelsea mumbled from behind, though Jenny didn't bother gracing her with a look of acknowledgement over her shoulder.

"So where are we going?" Nathan asked, butting forward past Jenny, to walk next to Tony, who in turn gave him a narrow eyed look, followed by a slight sniff, though it appeared that he immediately regretted that as he dry gagged on the sewer stench.

"Oh! Regret! I wasn't breathing for a reason." he grumbled, covering his mouth and nose for a moment as his breathing reflexes went back into a comatose state, letting the muscle memory fade. Apparently breathing was something that Vampires needed to remind themselves they didn't need to do… which… kinda made sense from Jenny's perspective. Get turned into one and muscle memory just makes you keep breathing, even though you don't need it.

"Ugh." he groaned. "So… garbage aside…" he started. "I'm taking you back to one of our hideouts. We've set up our nerve center there, for looking for our mutual friend. _That _being said…" he trailed off, staring sideways at Nathan. "Actually, maybe I shouldn't be quite so surprised…" he mumbled, seeming to consider dropping the subject.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Nathan asked, cocking a brow and upturning his lips. "That I'm a werewolf?" he asked. "What? Are you seriously a _vampire _who buys into the stereotype that werewolves and vampires can't be cordial towards one another."

Tony shook his head. "I'll leave judgement alone, if Alucard trusts you, that's good enough for me." he replied, almost skipping Nathan's question; "But it ain't a stereotype if it's true. You're a werewolf yeah, you telling me that when a big powerful dog moves in, you don't feel the need to assert dominance? Isn't that what alpha dogs do?" he said. "And if those powerful dogs are _us_… put two and two together. That stereotype wasn't born from Hollywood."

Nathan scoffed quietly, "Well for starters, for my dad, sure that might be an issue. He's the local alpha… but me? Pfft. Need I remind you I'm also a…" he trailed off, holding his hand up, index extended as he faltered, looking over his shoulder back at Jenny and Chelsea. "Are we Millennials or Gen-Z?" he asked.

It was 2017 and all of them except Chelsea were born in 2000, Chelsea barely squeaking in at 1999. "I think we're Gen-Z and Chelsea is the Millennial." Jenny replied.

"I think Millennials are 1996 and before…" Chelsea mumbled

"Whatever!" Nathan exclaimed, throwing his other hand up exasperatedly; "New Generation… it's 2017 Tony. Fuck the whole... dog-eat-dog… uh… mo-... mot-... pro-..." he started to trail off before sighing, "Just screw _that_."

"Lost your train of thought on that one huh?" Chelsea jabed quietly, under her breath.

"English sucks okay?" Nathan quipped.

Jenny smirked slightly, observing how Tony reacted to the situation… though from the looks of it, he was mildly amused. "Alright, it's all fitting in now…" he muttered quietly, "Anyways, just up ahead… turn… here." he said, pointing ahead at a corridor that turned off of the main sewage line, away from the wide grimey underground aqueduct.

Taking a hard right, they were lead through a heavy metal door and up a set of warehouse style metal stairs. The rest of the Vampires departed further up stairs, but the area that Jenny and the rest had found themselves in was set up in some kind of weird… _den, _or _man cave _style. It was clearly some kind of warehouse building and they were in one of the offices attached to it, as seen from outside one of the windows which opened up into- well, a warehouse. Meanwhile, from the other side which was heavily tinted, Jenny could see much of the Seawall and Marina beyond.

Inside on the other hand, the room was splayed with computers and desks, a large TV in the middle, pressed against the railing that lined the stairs that they'd just come up from, a torn up, but still clean looking black leather sofa took up the middle. Towards the warehouse side window, a wide computer setup was… set. At it was a young looking, black haired boy, appearing no older than 18 or 19, though he wore his hair long and slick like some 70s style greaser, though he donned no greaser-like jacket, merely a grey t-shirt and jeans like one would expect from a more modern individual.

"Yo. Pinball. Any updates?" Tony asked.

The semi-greaser-esc boy, this… _Pinball_, shook his head, looking over his shoulder, turning his attention from the messy computer setup; several Burger King large cups sitting atop it, a pack of TimBits on the other side. Pinball lowered a pair of sunglasses down off his face slightly, revealing these… wild, sleepless brown eyes, eyes that had heavy black spots around them and bags underneath them. "If I had anything to report, I would so." he said, raising his elbow atop the back of his basic office chair. "And why is it so bright in here!?" he added, sliding his glasses back up…

Jenny was confused, it was plenty dark in here. "Ah, right sorry." Tony muttered, sliding over towards the tattered couch and searching through the cushions. "It's… around here somewhere." he muttered before pulling out a small palm sized black remote and pressing a little button on it… causing lights to turn on around the little den which gently pulsed colors, from red to blue, purple, yellow, but never white.

"Peeeerfecto!" Chirped Pinball going from a normal voice to a more… offensively stereotypical Itallian voice. "It takesa tima and effort to-ah finda our friends. I may hava cracked zhe ADAM netvork but zhat is only zee first step. I must now sift through zee multitudes of files zey have on store…" he started, suddenly shifting from a stereotypical, overexaggerated Itallian accent to a German one. "Vhich by zee vay, zhey do not keep very vell organized… it's a vonder zhat zhey manage to keep up vith us. Anyvays. Zhat… UND, well…" he quieted down, going back to a normal tone. "Well, also I have to keep ADAM from locating my invasion, tracking it down and following it back here. So y'know… this is fucking art, you can't… rush… art." he finished, turning back towards his computer screen.

"Alright, well… if you get something gimme an update." Tony replied, not seeming to even bat an eyelash at Pinball's erratic behavior.

Pinball however just brushed Tony off; "Pinball is not here at the moment, please leave a message at the tone!" he chirped in a singsong tone before a sudden buzzing - perfectly timed with his sentence ending - went off, causing Pinball to tense up; "My burrito is done!" he exclaimed, launching himself off the chair to the left, past the large TV to where a microwave was set up, pulling the piping hot burrito out of it, barehanded, without flinching and returning to his computer setup.

Tony looked over his shoulder. "Caspian Verruckt." he said, as if that explained everything… which… it kinda did. Jenny recalled a few of the Vampire Houses and Clans that Al had told her about; Caspian Verruckt were those who'd essentially lost their marbles upon being turned and… weren't all here. The severity ranged from hardly noticeable to _lock them up in a straitjacket _bad. Still, those who were mild to moderate, despite their setbacks, were incredibly gifted, often considered geniuses in their fields. It was one whole analogy on mental health really.

"So… if he's C.V…" Jenny started, slowly pointing her index towards Tony.

He shook his head; "Nah. Kai-Sun." he replied; which didn't have anything particularly special about them physically or mentally… they were… pretty normal. Almost exclusively Vampires out of Asia, specifically China, Korea and the Indochina countries - Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and the rest - and smaller amounts from the Philippines. It was more of a regional thing than any mental or physical condition that made them stand out. That and the fact that the Kai-Sun were essentially a Vampire global Triad… that was also a thing.

"Oh!" Jenny exclaimed, tensing up, her voice going higher; she could see her friends tensing up as well…

"So… you're telling me that Al's been in contact with _the gang_." Nathan asked, his voice coming off accusatory.

"It's a long story man." Tony muttered, removing his jacket, so that he wore only his plain, grey muscle shirt, exposing his not insubstantially muscled arms, both of which were fully tatted out with eastern dragons all along them. "Dude pulled my ass out of the fire as well, so I've got a lot to thank him for, that said… _some people,_ are not thrilled he's gone missing and are already looking for him for their own ends… me and my folk however… well, don't nobody tell the man, but we're looking for him on our own. No strings attached." he stated. "Pinball over there however is only one man… and the only one I can trust with this. The others you saw? Part of my own gang. I run the local Triad. So I got pull with them that the man doesn't, you know?" he then waved a hand around his shoulder, brushing his last words off. "Like I said, it's complicated… and hard to talk about. I can't just to ranting about everything, now can I… much as I may wanna."

"Okay, okay… soo…" Jenny started, trailing off as Chelsea moved past her and sat next to Tony, admiring his arms… Jenny mentally groaned, but didn't think any further than that… Chelsea was 18, she could do whatever she wanted now! "Take it slowly. You can introduce us to other players later… but… right now, I want to know your goals… and how you intend to find Al."

Tony, who'd momentarily averted his gaze from Jenny, towards Chelsea, with a slight smirk on his lips, returned his attention back to the pink haired ghoul. "Alright. So. We know that ADAM and the Sorcerers League have the most intel on magical dohickeys. We asked them if they know anything, got squat - the later that is. ADAM, well it's not like we can compare notes, y'know?" he started.

"So what I've got going here, is Pinball is hackin' into their network, seeing if they know that's up. Because as far as The Man seems concerned, ADAM knows more than we do. So I'm having Pinball sift through their data streams, seeing if he can find anything. Unfortunately, he's a great hacker, but he's just one guy… can only sift through so much data. Once we've got it though, then we'll plan a move against them, see if we can snatch something useful from them… and then..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Not sure where to go after that. Kinda playing it by ear."

Nathan groaned, rolling his eyes. "That's all you got?!" he exclaimed, standing next to Jenny, the two of them having yet to really get settled in this… _vampire den_.

"Keep the cacophony down while Notpinball is working!" Exclaimed Pinball, without so much as taking his gaze off his computer screen. "I haven't slept in a week. I'll sleep when I'm dead I say. Which is fortunate, because I'm almost-dead… so eventually I will get to sleep. Which is good… except that… I don't need to sleep. But I kinda do."

Jenny did her best to process what Pinball had just said, but could feel her brain starting to malfunction… she let is slide and put it out of her mind.

"Well, it's better than nothing." Jenny interjected. "I mean… maybe we can help?" she offered.

"What?" Nathan mumbled, looking over at Jenny dumbfounded.

"We're his friends too, probably the ones he hangs out with the most. Despite this… _secretive vampire society _that seems to be being implied here." Jenny suggested, looking over at Tony to gauge his reaction during the final stages of her sentence… he glanced off to the side, which Jenny deduced was some kind of tell… she was probably correct about the whole secret society thing. She couldn't be certain of course, Al had never brought anything up… though if this _was _true, she'd have to have some words with him.

"That…" she resumed, looking fully towards Tony, with his arms raised along the back of the black sofa. He turned his gaze back towards her, raising a brow. "...and we _might _just have someone who can help you out with sifting through all that data."

"Well, that'd be great! Can they be trusted?" Tony asked.

Jenny smirked. "Oh… yeah. I'd say she can be. She's the mere mortal that caught onto everything that was going on before even I did. Not… that is means she's trustworthy I suppose…" Jenny trailed off, raising a hand to her chin. "Err, but she's been our friend for years… so I'd say she's adequately trustworthy."

Tony nodded. "Bring her by some time then and we'll get to work. While those two are sifting through the data, I can introduce you to the team proper." Tony then shifted his gaze towards Pinball. "And then… hopefully we'll get something we can act on."

Jenny sighed, nodding slightly. Nathan didn't seem to like this plan, but… if he cared about her, if he cared about Al, he'd stick with her on this. She raised a hand and placed it gently on his shoulder. "We're going to find Al. Then we'll bring him back."

Nathan nodded a little. "Yeah. Good. We fuckin' better…" he muttered quietly, before finally cracking a slight smirk. "Pub's not been the same without him. After all, I need someone to steal all the good tipping customers." he remarked, causing Jenny to chuckle quietly.

She hoped to find him soon too. She just hoped that whatever, wherever he was, he wasn't getting into too much trouble. Heaven forbid that ADAM or Carmila got to him before they did…

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this one, even if it veered off and took a look at the other side of things. Which, I'll be real, I'd probably find just a single episode or chapter showing how people on the other side reacted to things and people just vanishing... eh. **

**Either way, if you enjoyed, drop me a fave and follow the story so you can be alerted to updates. (When I actually get around to them...) **

**And if there was something you liked, or didn't like, feel free to leave a review telling me what's up. Though, if you're feeling so inclined, I'd appreciate more in depth feedback; how's the writing style? Is the story easy or hard to follow? Are you confused by anything? Have I messed up any characters? Things like that will help to improve and hopefully fix any issues going forward. As I've said, I do enjoy writing and I wish to improve, but I can only do that if you guys give me more complex feedback (not that I don't appreciate the short but sweet, I do.)**

**Anyways, till the next update. Whenever _that _may be... peace.**


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